Luscious enough photography and fun to watch, “Appaloosa” brings nothing new to the table. As a collection of things that have been done before who will watch it over the originals?
If you don’t count Ed Harris previous directing debut in “Pollock” in 2000 (in which he directed mostly himself) this is Mr. Harris’ directing debut. The job is commendable but no award winner. In fact, through the years his acting has also been commendable and although nominated for four Oscars (“The Hours” (2002), “Pollock” (2000), “The Truman Show” (1998) and “Apollo 13” (1995)) he has yet to snag the big one.
In what appears to be mostly a remake of “Lonesome Dove,” Harris plays Virgil Cole, a Woodrow Call cowboy macho gun slinger who speaks softly but hefts a big barrel. For those who never tire of this sort of thing, there it is. The gunplay is fair to middlin’ with a couple good shootouts involving only a few people in each shootout. Nothing like Clint Eastwood, Wyatt Earp or the OK Corral flicks. No Sam Peckinpah bodies flying or slow motion head explosions. Just bang-bang, yur dead.
Viggo Mortensen plays Everett Hitch, Cole’s partner and shotgun specialist who speaks more and carries a really big gun, an eight gauge shotgun, in fact. This gun is as big as a cannon and lends some much needed humor. The cannon-gun places the duo into Lucas McCain “Rifleman” territory and helps the audience suspend disbelief, which is important in this story. The film doesn’t want to veer to close to “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” what with the “love” triangle and all.
Which brings us to the love interest. Renée Zellweger (Oscar for “Cold Mountain” in 2003) plays western woman of mystery Allison French. Virgil and Everett, the two practitioners of “gun business,” roll into Appaloosa and, coincidentally, there is lovely and innocent Miss French. It is to the credit of screenwriters Robert Knott and co-writer Ed Harris and novel author Robert B. Parker that Miss French turns out not to be the stereotype of the strong, loyal and hard working western pioneer woman. Instead, she is more like the women of today; wanting to do what is right, but wanting a roof over her head more. Fair enough.
Listing the leading cast in reverse order of acting merit, Jeremy Irons leads the pack playing bad guy Randall Bragg. When it comes to bad guys, Bragg is pretty good. He is rich, robs silver shipments, murders people at will and his employees pee on bars in saloons. When it comes to bad, that pretty much covers it.
Jeremy Irons is great, the intellectual, cultured psychopathic robber baron type who plays chess with you one minute and kills your family the next. Plus he looks pretty good as a bearded slobbering gunslinger. Plus he has mastered a passable easy-going light Southern gentleman accent that works well with the psycho killer personality---like Jesse James. Time for Virgil and Everett to clean up this mess and clean it up they do. Well, not all of it. But most of it.
Thereafter follows the usual rich robber baron in jail scenario with slobbering bearded cowboy gunslingers threatening the local marshal who is ridiculously outnumbered. Yes, you’ve seen it before and you’ll see it again. But giving the devils their due, Harris and Mortensen do a pretty good job.
Lenser is Dean Semler who won the Oscar for Best Cinematography for Kevin Costner’s huge hit “Dances with Wolves” in 1990. Unlike “Dances” most of the shots are either indoors or have their background completely filled with building exteriors. This allows the shots to be framed with stereotypical “western” beams and timbers. The wood framing frames the shots and the result is a tidy set of images, but nothing that throws the audience off balance and causes alarm. Exterior shots of the big skies of Texas and New Mexico are kept to a minimum and the interior shots, framed by the beams, amplify the limited options of the four main characters and their crucible-like existence. Well done wind and dust lend realism to the harsh environment.
Original music is by Jeff Beal who reunites with Ed Harris from Pollock and claims an Emmy Award along with many nominations. The sound track is good, although, like most of the film, understated.
Release: September 17, 2008
USA
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