The Unholy Trinity Review: Classic Western, Modern Sensibilities
Theatrical Movie Review - Western
While the Western is no longer the dominant film genre, we do occasionally get a new entry into that style. With his latest film The Unholy Trinity, director Richard Gray, along with writer Lee Zachariah, returns us to frontier times in the American West.
The film opens with Henry Broadway (Brandon Lessard) speaking with his father moments before Isaac’s hanging. His father tells him to seek out the men who set him up and to avenge his death. From there, Henry heads to Trinity, Montana, in order to discover for himself the truth about his father’s life and eventual death. While he is there, Brandon meets Sheriff Gabriel Dove (Pierce Brosnan), a man who seems to have the town’s best interests at heart. He also meets St. Christopher (Samuel L. Jackson), who saves his life, but is much harder to read. As Henry continues the journey to discover the truth about his father and the people who knew him, he also finds himself on a path of self-realization.
The first thing that grabs you as you watch The Unholy Trinity is how beautiful the setting and the cinematography are. At a time when so many films are shot on soundstages with the backgrounds dropped in later, watching a movie that was shot in the open space of Montana is absolutely breathtaking. Cinematographer Thomas Scott Stanton provides a spectacular backdrop for the events to unfold in.
The performances in this are all quite good. Brosnan creates a caring and layered character with Sheriff Dove. Jackson creates tension in every scene he is in with simple body language and vocal inflections. Lessard, who has worked with Gray in several of his previous films, anchors The Unholy Trinity with his character work. Henry goes through a lot of personal growth over the course of this film, and Lessard portrays that with an impressively nuanced performance. The physicality on display from all of the actors is also really well done.
My primary complaint with this movie is that there are some interesting women, particularly Q'orianka Kilcher as Running Club and Veronica Ferres as Sarah Dove, and these characters feel like they aren’t fleshed out as much as I would have liked. The story follows Henry, so I would expect him to get the bulk of the screen time. Still, it would have been nice to give the women a bit more development.
Each of the characters in The Unholy Trinity is a study in contradictions, which is what allows this film to work. None of these characters is framed as exclusively good or exclusively bad, and that ambiguity allows this movie to feel fresh. That said, there is plenty of traditional Western content in this movie, with horseback riding, shootouts, and saloons. The blend of a more modern, complex story with more conventional aspects of a Western will allow this film to be enjoyable to most audiences. With a runtime of just 95 minutes, this is a great choice for those looking for a quick weekend watch.
Rating: 3.5/5
This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on June 15, 2025.