Avenging Angel (2007)

Kevin Sorbo plays the preacher who becomes a bounty hunter thanks to land hungry Col. Cusack.

He takes up his guns after Cusasck’s henchmen, led by Bob Quinn, blow up his church.

That’s because the preacher was providing refuge to squatters Cusack wanted chased from “his” land and refused to turn them over to Quinn.

To make matters worse, the preacher’s wife, who always spoke against violence, and his daughter are also killed.

Knowing his wife wouldn’t want him to avenge her death, he straps on his six-guns to right other wrongs.

But he’s forever haunted by what happened and, year, later, returns to Little Springs only to find the nightmare being repeated.

Homesteaders, led by a man named Elijah, have settled on the same tract of land. They insist they purchased it from Col. Cusack (Wings Hauser).

But Cusack still holds the deed to the property, and his top gunman, Bob Quinn (Nick Chinlund) is now the town sheriff.

The homesteaders won’t take up arms, being good Christian folks, so the preacher finds himself again torn between peace and violence, between a pledge to his wife not to seek revenge and a deep desire to do just that.

Meanwhile, he’s made a new friend in an ex-saloon girl named Maggie (Cynthia Watros), who has a pretty little daughter named Amelia.

Kevin Sorbo as Preacher, meeting Col. Cusack for the first time in Avenging Angel (2007)

Nick Chinlund as Bob Quinn, the lawman who does the colonel’s bidding in Avenging Angel (2007)

Review:

Sorbo seems natural in a Western setting. His performance and that of Watros and her daughter help overcome a small budget and a weak plot and make this worth watching.

As for the budget, the dynamite blast in the opening scene destroys the inside of the church, but doesn’t blow as much as a door off the outside. And if you watch many of these films, you’ll recognize the home Col. Cusack lives in. It was also a prominent set piece in “The Pledge,” starring Luke Perry.

As for the plot, why in the world is Cusack and his hired guns having so much trouble running the “squatters” off their land? For crying out loud, they refuse to use guns.

Yet he wants to hire The Preacher/Bounty Hunter to help with this difficult task?

Cynthia Watros as Maggie, the former saloon girl who takes in the Preacher in Avenging Angel (2007)

Joey King as Amelia, the young girl who finds a father figure in the Preacher in Avenging Angel (2007)

Directed by:
David S. Cass Sr.

Cast:
Kevin Sorbo … Preacher
Nick Chinlund … Bob Quinn
Wings Hauser … Col. Cusack
Cynthia Watros … Maggie
Joey King … Amelia
Jim Haynie … Elijah (leader of homesteaders)
Richard Lee Jackson … Billy (homesteader)
Lorin McCraley … Spencer (one of Quinn’s men)

Runtime: 81 min.

Wings Hauser as Col. Cusack, the man behind the trouble in Avenging Angel (2007)

Lorin McCraley as Spencer, one of Quinn’s henchmen in Avenging Angel (2007)

Memorable lines:

Preacher: “Lord have mercy on me. Forgive me for the role I’m about to take.”

Preacher: “You’re both wanted, dead or alive, you choose.”
Wanted man #1: “Who you packing on the horse?”
Preacher: “Your brother. He made the wrong choice.”
A short exchange of bullets later, and two more brothers are dead.
Preacher: “Wrong choices must run in the family.”

Jim Haynie as Elijah, leader of the homesteaders in Avenging Angel (2007)

Richard Lee Jackson as Billy, a young homesteader ready to fight for his land in Avenging Angel (2007)

Cynthia Watros as Maggie with her young daughter Amelia in Avenging Angel (2007)

Kevin Sorbo as Preacher, torn between his callings as a man of god and an avenger in Avenging Angel (2007)