In the desert wilderness of the Southwest wilderness in 1902, a grieving young woman (Kaylee DeFer) marries a miner (Ryan Doom) who's curiously never home while his humble younger brother (Ric Maddox) takes care of the homestead, which includes her younger brother and sister. How can a family function with the husband perpetually roaming elsewhere?

"Renegade" (2011),originally called "Massie," is an Independent Western drama with fine Arizona locations, a worthy story, welcome biblical spirituality, a few worthy actors and a decent score, but it's unfortunately hampered by amateurish filmmaking, including dubious acting by several peripherals, which is obvious right out of the gate.

I'm perfectly able to overlook a film's lack of resources and even skill if the story is commendable and the actors give it their best. The micro-budget "Border Shootout" (1990) is a good example. But the filmmaking in this one is so subpar my mind kept wandering. Thankfully, I was able to acclimate enough to appreciate the Southwest locations, the music, the semi-overt biblical elements and, by the last act, the story (which, admittedly, is predictable, yet heartwarming).

This is fine as a student project for the director & crew to learn from and could be appreciated by their families & friends for input and growth. But, as a viewing experience for the general public, it isn't worthy. As pointed out, it's not all bad, the director & team just needed more finances, improved skills or both for an effective product.

The film runs 1 hour, 29 minutes and was shot at Gammon's Gulch Movie Set, Arizona, which is about 25 miles east of Tucson.

GRADE: D+

RENEGADE probably won't go over very well with the ignorant masses, which means it probably won't score high on IMDb.

The reasons are that this Western drama is everything that those with multiple accounts, and those who try to control IMDb with their hate, that this Western dram is everything they sand against.

First, the characters are multi dimensional. They have motivation for what they are doing, as most people were at the turn of the 20th century, when this Western about miners and claim jumpers, is based, before they had Hollywood and the internet to tell them to act without motivation.

Second, and this will get RENEGADE's foes hot under the collar, the film depicts Christians in an objective manner. It is a Christian film, but it doesn't preach. It simply demonstrates, and that will get the extremists of the internet foaming at the mouth. I'm sure this review will be lambasted for its honesty, as much as the film will get negative votes and reviews by the hypocrites. This is the first review, so I said it first, before any are posted. I'm not picking on anyone. If anyone wants to volunteer to be a lunatic, they'll just have to deal with it honestly. Yeah, right.

Third, there is a fundamental problem here. The script is good, and the production value is good. The production team minds their Ps and Qs, but not the Rs.

The actors seem to struggle. They make mistakes I've seen amateurs, and some rising starts, make. They have talent, but they aren't coached in it. The leads seem to be professional, but many of the others struggle.

Even the leads have a few glitches, and I saw why. It's because the script was good, and they tried too hard to adhere to it, instead of having a natural flow. No matter how good a script is, you have to go with the feel and flow of the waters over the plans for the dam's construction.

It looked like actors who weren't always comfortable with each other. I suspect that they often went their own way home after rehearsal, instead of living with each other.

In a production like this, the Magic is most important. This is something I tried to stress with my own cable access TV show actors, but when you find good ones, people with money steal them away from you.

Not that this film lacked Magic. The trouble is that it came too late. The glitches are early in the film. The ending is very worthwhile.

It is a classic style story, ad I don't mean to be harsh on the actors. They tried. And that's the problem. They tried instead of coasted. I did the same thing in college and community theater, before I realized the importance of living in acting.

A few nit picks here and there, but this was a good film, with characters you could believe existed, and a story well told. It won't be appreciated much by the Christian bashers of the internet, and who knows if that will get worse or better. The Magic I have seen tells me it could even get worse, so this film may be way ahead of its time.

This movie was originally titled "Mattie" but was changed so guys like me would watch it instead of the real target audience. The film takes place in 1902 during the Arizona gold rush. Mattie (Kaylee DeFer) is 18 and cares for her 2 sisters and brother while her dad (Chris Dunn) looks for gold. There are also claim jumpers who kill and rob the fortune hunters. The claim jumpers include a Native American with a bad Mexican accent.

This is a low budget PG production where girls giggle and faint if a good looking man waves at them. The community fixes up Mattie with Zeb Fulton (Ryan Doom),however it is Zeb's brother Jacob (Ric Maddox) that has the eye for her. Zeb travels and is not a great husband and leaves his wife at home with his brother. Since this is a PG film with a heavy faith based theme, the expected "R" rated events do not happen.

The movie contains a lot of narration from Mattie who reads us character as opposed to it being built and philosophizes her faith. She speaks as an educated woman using very bad grammar and such. I thought the dialogue was a bit awkward. This is a faith based western for the younger crowd, perhaps a family night film, although I can't imagine most teens enjoying this production as it tends to be boring.

No f-bombs, sex, or nudity. Some killing, nothing horrific.