The Decoy (2006) User Reviews

Grading THE DECOY on a Curve.

[vitaleralphlouis · 4/10 · 18 August 2007]

THE DECOY is one of those independent productions, made by obvious newcomers, but it doesn't have all the usual flaws that sink most such films. It has a definite story, it has adequate acting, the photography is very good, the hero and the bad guy are both formidable men, and the background music isn't overdone. This is a DVD New Release, so people will be looking here to see if it's worthwhile. I don't know where all the 10's come from, as there's no way this film is that good --- even if you're the filmmaker's mother.

The last film we saw at a theater was Warner's trashing of J K Rawlings much-loved and excellent book, Order of the Phoenix. In comparing THE DECOY with PHOENIX, consider that PHOENIX (as made by Warners) had no story, certainly no acting was allowed by the director, the photography was dreadful, and the wall-of-sound overbearing musical score was just a mess. I rated Phoenix a "1" because the scale doesn't go any lower. THE DECOY is 4 times better -- in all regards.

If you have the opportunity, give THE DECOY a chance. Remember, this isn't "Decoy 3 -- the Shootout" or any such nonsense. It's original. If your expectations aren't overblown by the foolish "10" scores here, you might just enjoy the film on its own terms.

A Low-Budget Western Lacking Excitement

[Uriah43 · 3/10 · 9 August 2023]

Orphaned at a young age, "Martin Lowery" (Kevin Market) is taken in by a married couple and raised as one of their own. And even though he is mute, as he grows older and becomes a man, Martin becomes one of the most likeable people in his small town because he is so kind and meek. The townspeople turn on him, however, when he becomes the prime suspect in the murder of those same two people who initially treated him with such kindness. This includes a deputy by the name of "John Cooper" (Justin Kreinbrink) who is not only in love with the daughter of the two people Martin supposedly murdered but was also Martin's best friend. So, when Deputy Cooper is ordered to personally escort Martin to Tucson to be tried and hung, he struggles with the decision to simply kill him along the way instead. But what nobody realizes, however, is that Martin knows who the actual murderers really are but refuses to disclose that information--and the killers are not willing to have either Deputy Cooper or Martin make it to Tucson alive. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this low-budget film started off relatively well but the overall reason for Martin to keep everything secret was a bit of a stretch considering that he had plenty of opportunities set things right with little danger to anyone but the real murderers. Likewise, the ending was a bit too convenient as well. In any case, while I don't consider this film to be a complete waste of time, the low-budget aspects were much too obvious, and I have rated this project accordingly. Below average.

What was the point?

[wis17 · 1/10 · 2 September 2007]

We rented the DVD hoping for a good western. The film was pretty and the scenes reasonable, but the ideas were very bad. Here are my problems with the film.

In the first part, why exactly did the bad guy kill the mine owner? Not really connected to the movie except to establish how bad he was and to have a hideout.

The bank employee gone bad just acts too poorly to convincingly decide to hire killers to off his employers. At least keep us guessing. No character developed at all for the bank owners or the bank employee.

Very long delay in much of anything happening.

Absurd premise that Martin still needed to see the judge after the gang confessed to killing the in-laws. Even more absurd that he confesses to judge and judge will not listen to the sheriff guy. even more ridiculous that Martin his hung and rope breaks then the sheriff takes him at gunpoint to finally head back to his town and save his wife from the bad bank employee. Wouldn't he just return after the quick dispatch of the gang to save wife and arrest bad bank guy? Just send the judge a note that gang confessed before being killed on trail????!!! Overall, very sad acting and no point to movie.

What the heck was this?

[scythempress · 1/10 · 3 November 2013]

I wrote a review of this right after it came out, but too late to beat, at the time, the two people hired by the directors mom to call it an Oscar effort. Where did it go? Hmmmmm, anyway studio lackeys here it is again. This is tripe. It is done by a bunch of nobody's with almost no money and even less talent. If I was Tara, Justin's wife, I would have flogged him for not letting me star in his stupid attempt at a motion picture. She probably did not want to ruin her chances elsewhere, because if you go down the list of "stars" in this rubbish, they never worked again. The story, music, actors (term used loosely), everything just makes you want to hurl. I have never seen a bigger waste of time or money. Thank goodness it only cost me a dollar at the local rental store. Did I watch it all? No, after the ridiculous killing of the miner that nobody could figure out, and then some really poor acting, I showed my player mercy and allowed it to spit that sht out. Even graded on a curve this tripe gets something below an F.

Great western

[elisha_buckley · 1/10 · 1 August 2007]

Great western I hear you all say! Brilliant first effort! Well I'm not sure what film you all watched but it must have been a different one to the one I saw. Great westerns or indeed good films of any genre have characters you can believe in and this film had none! The acting was poor to say the least and I couldn't care less about any of the characters, making the whole film pointless. the story was too big for the makers and perhaps they should try their hand at making straight to TV low budget rubbish like you see on those "FACT OR FICTION" programmes on sci-fi.

Please, if you are looking for a good film, a great western or even just an enjoyable hour and a half, please look elsewhere.

Dull

[FightingWesterner · 2/10 · 9 January 2010]

When his in-laws are viciously murdered by a gang of thugs, a young deputy is ordered to escort his mute friend, forced to take the rap by the gang, to Tucson for trial and ending up having to face the real killers along the way.

The Decoy is a real-life decoy sent to video stores to lure you away from better films! It's talky, illogical, slow, and ultimately very boring.

There's some good costumes, sets, and photography but nothing else is good about this vanity project from writer/director/producer/star Justin Kreinbrink, who apparently had too much money on his hands.

They used to make westerns like this, that were under an hour long. Trim this of about half it's length and you might have something watchable.

An insult to your intelligence

[neketa0824 · 1/10 · 11 May 2008]

This movie rivals "Plan 9" as one of the dumbest movie ever made. Always be concerned when the same person is the:

1. Star 2. Director 3. Producer 4. Writer 5. Stuntman, and 6. Editor. Unfortunately, Justin Kreinbrink did all 6 jobs! IMDb shows that he and his father were western 'stunt men'. So maybe that was the problem.

Here's just ONE example from the film: in the film the sheriff has to take a witness to another town for protection. Of course, the bad guys find out and are waiting for them. But, what happens? The good guys are riding along and a shot rings out and hits a tree near them. When the camera shows us the bad guys they're all just sitting on a log, chatting. What's wrong with this picture!

I could go on. Perhaps this film was meant as a comedy. If so, it didn't do that well either.

very weak, not worth the effort

[judge-fat-boy · 2/10 · 17 September 2008]

After reading the other reviews for this film I am of the opinion that the high markers are probably paid studio lackeys as the film I saw was absolutely dire, with wooden acting, lacklustre scripting and plodding predictable directing, one of the few plus points has to be the stunning scenery as this film features some stunning backdrops with great sweeping vistas and dramatic skies and wide open prairies, sadly when the most memorable thing in a film is the part featured behind the actors this has to be a warning sign as to the quality of the movie, all in all a thoroughly uninspiring addition to the western genre which even at the very reasonable price it can be obtained on DVD is best to avoid.

Mute but not stupid

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 2 September 2013]

After having watched The Decoy with its cast of absolutely no one you will recognize at all, I'm still wondering about what I looked at. Justin Kreinbrink who both directed and starred in The Decoy should have gotten himself a far more coherent story.

Some nasty outlaws shoot a miner and take over his mine for no particular reason other than their need for a headquarters. But aside from their usual crimes of outlawry, someone who has a reason for wanting to kill the town banker hires these guys to kill him and his wife. Their daughter happens to be married to Kreinbrink who is a deputy sheriff.

The patsy they decide to frame is a deaf mute foster son of the banker. The man is mute, but not stupid he won't write out any denial.

Justin, if someone gives you another crack at a western, make it one the audience will not be scratching its collective head after viewing.

Wild west adventure, romance and plenty of gun fire....

[randallaz · 10/10 · 5 October 2006]

this great script with the outstanding directing, put to the test by a talented cast and crew captured every bit of the old west as I could hope for in a western. This movie has all the elements of good guys and bad guys, from the upstanding hero figure to the lawless gang of villains. It has everything; good vs evil, action, suspense, romance and revenge. The locations used in the movie brought the feel of the old westerns' back and the justice that goes with it. The score was fantastic and added to the enjoyment of the movie.

I was one of 1200 people attending the premier of this movie. I can tell you it was well received by the audience, and I look forward to seeing it the movie theaters!

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE THAT WORKED ON THIS FILM! JOB WELL DONE!

Good effort

[Tim-329 · 6/10 · 29 May 2006]

I've seen a preview of this Western. It is definitely a low budget effort - but made with a lot of heart. First off and worthy of immediate mention are the locations. This looks and feels like a Western. The acting is better than average at this level and I really liked the guy who played Martin. What perhaps could be improved with this picture is the work in post. The editing could be a big sharper, the sound mix and little richer and some more compositing and filtering could really bring to life some excellent shots. But what of the story? Actually the underlying plot is quite good. A mute man is framed as a 'decoy' to take the heat for a murder - all to cover up a bank robbery. His friend the sheriff must then escort him to the hanging. But the film is a little bit slow in getting going. I'd have preferred it if it had featured more of this journey and beefed up the conflict between this two friends / adversaries. Even if this meant we saw some of the preamble in flashback. All in all - I'll be checking out other films from these guys as this first feature shows promise and grit.

great start

[zblank · 6/10 · 5 October 2006]

I don't normally review movies but after reading the previous review I felt I owed it to the makers of this film.

I saw this movie on opening weekend at the fox theater. I'm not an avid Western watcher, but an avid movie watcher and a fan of the theater going experience. I can't say this is the best movie I've ever seen, but I could have told u that before buying the tickets. I knew I was going to see a first effort. In my opinion after viewing the film, I can say they are on the start of a very promising career. I can't comment on budgets, film stock, or over promotion. (I saw one poster at a local rental store). I can just comment on what I liked.

I will agree completely with the first review (tim). The film has first attempt written all over it...because it was a first attempt. With that in mind you have to look over that and review it more broadly. Over all the only problem I had with this film is that it kinda dragged in the beginning, getting the story started. I agree with Tim that more time should have been spent on the journey. My favorite part of this film was the scenery. Being a resident of Southern Arizona I felt that they captured the look and feel of the beautiful southern Arizona desert, and the different landscapes that it has. Overall I was happy with the movie I saw and would recommend it to any resident of the desert or fan of good ol' western.

Westerns are back !

[ananancy2003 · 7/10 · 6 October 2006]

Its about time somebody did a western with a bit of grit to it. I was at the premiere, and I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I will not go into discussion on form and function because we could argue this till the cows come home. But what I will say that its about time someone did a good western. This is America, is it not? Why are we so afraid to explore our rebellious side and enjoy characters that are stoic and bravely heroic. Can we take a break from problems in the middle east, political scandal, and the rest of the crap and remember that once, we had men (and women) who rode horses, shot guns and saved the day. We have some bad- A** roots, I personally for one would like to celebrate them. I believe America is ready for a western. I believe America is ready for this western. Give them some more time, money and distribution and these guys will take the country by storm. How do I know this, because I caught a glimpse of it in the theater. Was the film the most perfect piece ever created, no, was it thoroughly entertaining? I will respond with a resounding YES.

( And Entertainment is what makes money in the ENTERTAINMENT industry in case we all forgot )