Alec Baldwin movie Rust ‘haunted’ by shooting of cinematographer, critics say

By Charlotte McLaughlin, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter

Rust is “haunted by death and scandal”, critics have said as the Alec Baldwin movie is released following the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Reviewers praised the cinematography of Ukrainian Hutchins, 42, but said her death, caused by a gun held by Baldwin, had cast a shadow over the film.

An involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin over the death of Hutchins, which occurred during a rehearsal on the set outside Santa Fe in October 2021, was dismissed by a judge in July 2024.

Baldwin said he pulled back the hammer – but not the trigger – and the revolver fired, also wounding writer and director Joel Souza.

The film arrives in some cinemas on Friday, and ahead of that the Washington Post said it is a “generally compelling consideration of the costs of violence”, as Baldwin plays notorious outlaw Harland Rust who breaks his grandson out of jail.

The reviewer added the “insight” in the “savagely twisted moral landscape” of the old West “lacks freshness” but is a reasonable movie.

“Cobbling together ideas from other, better movies, Rust isn’t original enough to be a must-see, but it didn’t deserve to be cancelled because of an accident, either,” the review in the newspaper said.

“Mr Baldwin has been largely absent from the screen in recent years, and this effort is a reminder that, to use a word often applied to Harland Rust himself, he remains formidable.”

The Hollywood Reporter said it is a “competent but uninspired Western haunted by death and scandal”, citing Hutchins’s death.

It added it is “a no-frills Western, a classic story of cowboys and outlaws that revels in gorgeous scenery and the Puritanical moral dilemmas foundational to much of this nation’s mythology”.

It also praised the cinematography of Hutchins and Bianca Cline, who took over the role.

Variety also praised the filmmaking, saying it is “a handsome and watchable indie art Western”, but it criticised the plot, saying it “lopes along more than it takes wing, and for no good reason it’s two hours and 19 minutes long”.

It added: “Halyna Hutchins’s dusk-and-sunset cinematography, abetted by the work of Bianca Cline, may be the best thing about Rust, the film has a moody sensuality to it.

“But as written and directed by Joel Souza, the tale the film is telling comes down to Rust and (Harland’s grandson) Lucas stopping at one place and then another, never settling in long enough to have those places mean much; the posse will then show up at those same settings.”

Reviewers also criticised the depictions of native Americans, with Variety suggesting they were “tokens” on screen, while the Hollywood Reporter said they “border on painfully cliched”.

Baldwin, known for supernatural movie Beetlejuice and comedy 30 Rock, has filed a lawsuit for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations against those involved in pursuing criminal charges against him over the death of Hutchins.

Rust armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March following the death of Hutchins.