The Sisters Brothers review: John C. Reilly shines in Jacques Audiard's epic Western

Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers is the French director’s attempt at making a Western, and with it, he demonstrates yet again how he’s one of the most talented filmmakers working today.

His previous films, Dheepan, Rust and Bone, and A Prophet all showed different sides to the director’s ability in taking what could be a rather formulaic story and translating it flawlessly to the big screen.

However, with The Sisters Brothers he’s taken it that step further by adding his unique twist to one of the most celebrated genres in Hollywood history.

Not only is the film a pure joy to look at and full of beautiful vistas, it transports the viewer seamlessly to the West. It’s also a masterstroke in casting.

Who’d have ever thought that John C. Reilly and Joaquim Phoenix would have made the perfect Western duo?

On paper, their pairing seems totally ludicrous, but after watching the film you quickly come to realise that they were the only two actors who could have played these parts.

Reilly plays Eli Sisters, the more compassionate of the two brothers. There’s no other real way of putting rather than he’s a real sweetheart. He’s easily the most likeable assassin ever put to screen.

Then we have Joaquim Phoenix as Eli’s younger and more unstable brother, Charlie. He’s a loose cannon and loves what they do, whereas Eli is looking for a way out of this world of violence and death they are currently embroiled in.

The film sees the brothers travel across the southern states of the United States of America in search for prospector Hermann Kermit Warm (played by Riz Ahmed) and John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal).

John was supposed to catch Hermann for the brothers who had been instructed to torture him so that they could obtain his secret formula which makes gold come to the surface from river beds.

John quickly goes against his instructions and decides to join Herman in his quest to find gold and start a fairer, more equal society.

Pheonix, Gyllenhaal and Ahmed are tremendous in their respective roles, yet it’s Reilly who really stands out as the film’s heart.

You can see how conflicted he is between helping keep his brother alive and just leaving everything behind altogether.

Gyllenhaal is also doing something we haven’t seen the actor do before. His performance is slightly more subdued than the others which gives his character a slightly more mysterious edge.

Phoenix is playing the more traditional gun-toting Western hitman, and he’s very good at it indeed.

It’s the moments between Charlie and his brother Eli that really stand out.

The Sisters Brothers is slightly long, yet Audiard has paced it perfectly, interspersing the slower, more meandering moments with sections of spectacular Western-themed violence.

Jacques Audiard’s western harkens back to the time of the Spaghetti Westerns in the best possible way.

It’s hard-hitting, full of great landscapes, incredible set pieces, thought-provoking dialogue, fascinating characters and very loud guns.

Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix are brilliant together, and they are perfectly balanced against Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed.

Who knew that what we were missing was John C. Reilly as a gun-toting cowboy?