‘Boneyard’ Review: There Isn’t Nearly Enough for Mel Gibson or 50 Cent to Do in Clunky Serial Killer Thriller
variety.comDennis Harvey Film Critic You might expect a film that begins with Mel Gibson announcing, “The Bible says we should rejoice in our suffering,” to be a little more high-minded than “Boneyard.” But this trashy trawl through a fictionalized version of the “West Mesa Murders” — a still-unsolved southwestern crime spree in our century’s early years — is the kind of dubiously moralizing exploitation exercise that makes “Sound of Freedom” look like a noble class act by comparison.
Likewise “inspired by true events,” Asif Akbar’s movie alternates between lurid serial-killer suspense not far removed from the retro grindhouse ogling of concurrent “MaXXXine” and a convoluted procedural involving variably corrupt, conflicting investigators.
Four screenwriters are credited, to results that feel very much like four screenplays shuffled to comprise one awkward narrative deck of cards — from which marquee name Gibson has been largely dealt out.
Too cluttered to be dull, but frequently clunky and inept, this weak would-be thriller will not be making anywhere near the noise “Sound of Freedom” managed.
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