Even at the pinnacle of his career, but particularly during his direct-to-video days, Nicolas Cage has always approached acting in a unique way. Despite his career experiencing a rebirth since 2020, he continued to make unapologetically bad movies like “The Old Way.” The vengeance western’s central character is Colton Briggs (Cage), an apparently cordial store owner, and it is directed by Brett Donowho. Briggs and his daughter Brooke set off in search of retribution after his wife is brutally killed (Ryan Kiera Armstrong). He quickly learns that the violence that arrived at his door is a direct result of his violent past, when the name Colton Briggs used to inspire fear in people. What you might want to know about “The Old Way’s” conclusion is provided here. Spoilers follow.
The Old Way Plot Synopsis
A little hamlet in the American West is getting ready to hang a guy when the movie opens. The most powerful and wealthy guy in the community, who is also the one who initiated the hanging, has Briggs work as his hired shot. His awful moustache is the only indication that we are looking at a younger version of Briggs. Mr. McCallister, who is set to be hanged, reportedly stood up to the affluent man and is currently being executed in front of his son. Suddenly, McCallister’s brother and a number of other village residents step in. The wealthy man and all of his lackeys are shot to death.
Briggs doesn’t step in until someone brandishes a gun in his direction. The rescues, including McCallister’s brother, are all afterwards killed systematically by him. A distraught McCallister grabs his brother’s rifle and tries to shoot Briggs as he is ready to leave after taking the money he is owed from the dying wealthy man, but Briggs fires first, killing McCallister. Briggs then raises his gun and prepares to shoot McCallister’s son but ultimately decides against it and walks away.
After twenty years, Briggs encountered Ruth (Kerry Knuppe) during the interim period, and she encouraged him to improve. Briggs left his violent lifestyle behind because he was so determined to earn her affection. They were married after he shaved off his moustache. They eventually welcomed a daughter, Brooke, into the world. When the story resumes, Brooke has reached adolescence. Despite Briggs having a store in the town and Brooke going to school there, the family lives on their own property outside of the town. Insofar as a man like Briggs can be happy, he is.
Violence, however, has a way of finding you no matter how much time you spend running from it if your life has been one that has brought death and ruin to others. Four outlaws visit Briggs and Brooke’s house when they are both in town. Ruth puts up a valiant struggle, but it is in vain; she is brutally slain. US Marshal Jarett and his squad are there when Briggs and Brooke get home. The gang of criminals responsible for Ruth’s murder is being sought after. They assumed she lived there by herself and settled in since they believed she was already deceased.
The Marshal learns who Briggs is after Briggs first recognises him. The Marshal advises Briggs to concentrate on raising his daughter when he questions him about who is to blame for the loss of his wife. Briggs, a murderer, was transformed into a good man by Ruth. The Marshal asserts that Briggs doesn’t have to revert to a monster. The Marshal doesn’t understand that although Ruth was in Briggs’ life, the monster was still very much alive and well inside of him. Briggs enters the barn after learning from the Marshal that the murderers have left a horrific mess inside and discovers a note for him scribbled on a wall in Ruth’s blood that reads, “I owe you More.”
The Old Way Ending: Is Colton Briggs Dead? Does He Get Revenge for His Wife’s Murder?
The Old Way’s central theme is revenge, but the movie deftly subverts it to highlight how pointless seeking revenge can be. Briggs completes burying his wife after the Marshal and his posse depart, and he then sets fire to his home. With Brooke by his side, Briggs leaves to find his wife’s killers while only bringing the essential necessities. To get rid of the Marshal and his men before they have to face Briggs, the criminals set up a trap for them up ahead.
The intentions, however, are derailed when Boots (Shiloh Fernandez), who appears to be the group’s youngest member, shoots the Marshal instead of the man nearest to him as instructed. Both the Marshal and two of his troops live to see another day. They are eventually located by Briggs and his daughter. Briggs coerces the Marshal into disclosing his wife’s killers’ names. Big Mike, Eustace, and James “Jimmy” McCallister are all present in addition to Boots (Noah Le Gros). Briggs is unable to understand why the thieves chose his home as a target, not even the name of the latest one.
Jimmy had secreted a sizable amount of Mexican cash, which the thieves take before making their way to Santa Rosa, Mexico. Jimmy waits for Briggs in a place he is familiar with since he is aware that he is pursuing him. Additionally, they employ a few locals to prepare for the impending conflict. In the meantime, Briggs has a problem. His adversaries are aware of his appearance, but he cannot say the same about them. Brooke offers to go into the town as a result. Sadly, they capture her because they are aware of her appearance. Briggs chooses to enter the town after recognising something is off.
Big Mike and Boots are killed by Briggs, but Eustace shoots Briggs. Before approaching Jimmy and Eustace, he also kills the locals the criminals had recruited. Jimmy challenges Briggs to a duel the old-fashioned way and brings up their common history in the process. In the end, Briggs murders Eustace. Jimmy then shoots Briggs, fatally injuring him, but Brooke then shoots Jimmy to death with the weapon her father was carrying. In one of the film’s closing scenes, Briggs passes away in his daughter’s arms.
Who Is Jimmy McCallister? Why Did He Kill Ruth?
Jimmy, the child Briggs spared, is the son of Mr. McCallister at the very beginning of the movie. He subsequently tells Brooke that the day he was born was also the day his biological father passed away. He credited Briggs with transforming him into the monster he is now during the next years. Brooke is his sister, and he even regards Briggs as his second father. He tells his long-deceased biological father that he has murdered Briggs as he looks up to the sky after shooting Briggs. Brooke is given the opportunity to shoot him while he is preoccupied with the ecstatic satisfaction of achieving his retribution.
The Old Way as a movie shows the pointlessness and futility of revenge rather than necessarily glorifying it. After Briggs murdered Jimmy’s father, Jimmy murdered Ruth, which spurred Briggs to pursue Jimmy. Brooke ultimately kills Jimmy for the murder of her parents. Brooke will undoubtedly wish Jimmy didn’t have any offspring elsewhere. The cycle of violence will continue if he does.
Are Briggs and Brooke Psychopaths?
In the movie, it is made clear that Briggs and Brooke don’t process grief the same way that most people do. When the Marshal remembers that Brooke didn’t cry following her mother’s passing, he mentions this to one of his posse. Later, it is revealed that her father, who is also unable to cry but can feel great pain, is the source of this characteristic. However, upon the passing of her father, the magnitude of her losses finally hits home and she cries for the first time.
Jimmy pursued Briggs and his family for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was his desire for retribution for the killing of his father. He desired the fame that would come from eliminating Colton Briggs for good and earning the other man’s notoriety. Jimmy proclaims Brooke to be the monster and the rightful heir to her father’s legacy just before he passes away. But this seems to be incorrect. This experience has, if anything, reinforced her humanity.
