The first five minutes of The Sisters Brothers shows brains exploding out of the heads of men and horses on fire frantically running about.

There’s no way around it, this film is intense. Set in the gold rush era of the 1850s, John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix play contract killers on a mission in director Jacques Audiard’s cross-genre dark comedy, The Sisters Brothers. This is one of those rare films that doesn’t fit into any specific box. It is a wonderfully wacky and weird exploration of manhood and how, when desperate times call for desperate measures, one will give an arm and a limb to get what they want.

Despite the sweet ring to their name, Charlie and Eli Sisters (Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly) are more like angels of death to those they unfortunately encounter. For their latest mission, the brothers have been hired to find, capture, and kill the fugitive chemist Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) who is claimed to have invented a secret formula to easily discover gold at the bottom of rivers. Despite the ease of their previous murders, the task of finding Hermann becomes more complicated when John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal), the brothers’ accomplice, proves to be more of an unforeseen hindrance than a help. This forces the brothers to realize that it’s every man for himself in the wild, wild west.

Unlike the goofiness of another Western release this year, the Robert Pattinson-starring Damsel, The Sisters Brothers is much more stylish and grown up. Director Jacques Audiard explores different cinematic tones, never sustaining one for too long. Thankfully, this tonal mash-up doesn’t distract from the more interesting components of the film- the complicated dynamic of the brothers’ relationship with each other. They are brothers by blood but their personalities couldn’t be more different and watching Phoenix and Reilly navigate through their emotional turmoil is darkly comedic.

For those expecting a straight-up comedy or Western, you should leave those expectations at the door.

The score is another element that adds to the overall mixed tone of the film. Without pulling from Western influences, Academy Award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat chooses to instead use piano melodies in minor notes to convey a feeling of uneasiness and occasional finger snapping to seemingly modernize the story’s sound. We are in good hands with the French-born composer, whose previous credits include The King’s Speech and Argo, among countless others. He takes us on a sonic journey that feels somewhat independent of the film, but complimentary nonetheless.

For as disturbing as the overall tone of the film is, it also has lighter tendencies, giving the audience a much-needed moment to shake off the grotesque images from prior scenes. While these moments are few and far between, the setup and delivery of the jokes aren’t inherently “funny.” In fact, there were times I wasn’t sure if what I was laughing at was actually intended to be a joke. Watching ants crawl in and around vomit- not inherently funny, but in this context, maybe funny? Or just so uncomfortable that all I (and the rest of the screening room) could do was laugh.

For those expecting a straight-up comedy or Western, you should leave those expectations at the door. This portrait of life as familial assassins may not be the goldmine director Jacques Audiard was hoping for, but The Sisters Brothers‘ wholly original storyline and execution make for one entertaining film.

‘The Sisters Brothers’ is rated R for violence including disturbing images, language, and some sexual content. 121 minutes. Opening this Friday at The Landmark.