Renegade

Juliette Lewis, Michael Madsen, Vincent Cassel. Barely alive after a showdown with his girlfriend's killer, Mike Blueberry stumbles into Navajo territory where the Indians take him in and raise him. Now 20 years later, Mike is a U.S. Marshal when the killer returns to the town. 2004/color/124 min/R.

Based on a comic book, the international co-production Renegade (original English-language title: Blueberry) is a feverish, supernatural Western about a young Cajun man, Mike Blueberry (Hugh O'Connor), who defends his prostitute-girlfriend against gunman Wallace Blount (Michael Madsen) and ends up barely alive. Patched up by Indians, Blueberry undergoes the familiar cultural transformation to honorary Native American, then returns to his world to become a small-town marshal. (Vincent Cassel plays the adult Blueberry.) The arrival of Blount, possessed with otherworldly powers and seeking a mystical manuscript, sets the stage for a spooky duel that forces Blueberry to face old demons. The latter part of the film is overtaken by computer-generated effects that grow wearying, but before that director Jan Kounen makes up for weak narrative skills with mesmerizing imagery of the American Southwest. A nice supporting cast includes Juliette Lewis and her father, Geoffrey Lewis, plus Colm Meaney, Eddie Izzard, Ernest Borgnine, and Tcheky Karyo. --Tom Keogh