Educational Media Reviews Online

Searchers 2.0 is a feature film by well-regarded cult film director Alex Cox. The film loosely follows the plot of John Ford’s The Searchers (1956), while constantly veering off that path to take part in and critically survey the Hollywood western, the road movie, the buddy film and the revenge film genres.

The film follows two middle aged former child actors, Mel and Fred, who come together for the purpose of tracking down and taking “righteous justice” on a tyrannical screenwriter, Fritz Frobisher, whose actions on set scarred the two men in their youth. Through this quest, Mel and Fred reveal themselves to be dialogue quoting, film fact-book carrying, die hard film lovers. Their argumentative exchanges and constant off-hand quips about cinema are the funniest parts of the film. Mel’s daughter, Delilah, who begrudgingly drives the two men on their journey, serves as their intellectual opponent and somewhat as the voice of reason throughout the film. She is critical of the film industry, the moral bankruptcy of modern cinema and the sees the Hollywood system as “racist, hierarchical and unredeemable”. Together, the three of them head out through the desert to find Fritz Frobisher, a stand in for the combined bad habits of John Ford, Sam Peckinpah and the like.

Throughout the film, Mel and Fred are forced to reconcile their western archetype idealization with real life scenarios. In one scene, the pair try to solidify their vague plans for what to do with Frobisher once they find him – Fred’s idea of revenge is a combination of Sylvester Stallone and Clint Eastwood characters at their most iconically violent, to which Mel responds “gross, put that gun away”. The pair evolves throughout the film, better able to balance their love of the uncomplicated revenge seeking hero with the complexities of both the film industry and their own lives.

Director Alex Cox uses this story and its characters to examine and acknowledge a wide range of opposing opinions regarding the history and theory of the American western, while allowing room for all of these views to coexist somewhat peacefully. The film lovingly pays tribute to the scenery, musical scores and cinematic techniques of the classic western.

This film is recommended with reservations.