Midnight Strikes for Ferland
Jack Shepard (Kris Kristofferson - Angels Sing) doesn't do sheep on his ranch, he does cattle and horses like his daddy did before him. Trouble is the economy is tough and he and his wife, Rita (Chelah Horsdal - Three Weeks, Three Kids), along with their daughter, Megan (Jodelle Ferland - Home Alone: The Holiday Heist), are at risk of losing the place. It is why Rita comes up with a plan to grow a wheat grass crop as health food shops sell it at quite a price. Meanwhile Jack and Megan set about catching a wild stallion which she names Midnight in the hope of breaking him so that they can race him in a local race, set up by the Chaney family, as the winnings will give them some breathing room. Meanwhile Megan becomes sweet on Ross Chaney (Matt Mazur) not some thing his mum is over happy about.
"Midnight Stallion" is one of those movies which don't need you to think too hard about, well if you do you might find yourself pondering the casting of Kris Kristofferson as the husband of Chelah Horsdal, a 37 year age gap and then there is Jodelle Ferland as their teen daughter. And there are many other things in "Midnight Stallion" which logically might make you groan to the point that I know there are some who will find this too inconceivable to enjoy such as entering a wild stallion in a race again thorough bred race horses.
But you see what "Midnight Stallion" is is another movie which recycles some familiar themes and does so aimed at a younger generation who might not have watched the many other movies which have done the same. As such we have the struggling ranch, the wild stallion which the daughter feels bonded to, the local businessman who owns the bank and as such wants not just the ranch but also the horse. The bet which means win it or lose it all and some other things including the horse saving a life. But when taken as such, a movie for a new generation who will like Kristofferson as the old rancher whilst they will more than once be distracted by Jodelle Ferland as a teen cowgirl, it kind of works.
What this all boils down to is that "Midnight Stallion" is a bit of ranch/horse movie fluff, the sort of thing which recycles the ideas which have been trotted out in other horse/ranch movies since the 70s. As such it isn't a good movie but watched as light entertainment it has some familiar charm and a wholesomeness which should be appealing to some.
