Review of Appaloosa (2008) by Amheretojudge — 16 Sep 2018

The flips and cheats and tricks..

Appaloosa Appaloosa is a character driven western thriller drama about two soldiers being hired by a small group of town in order to save it from bandits. Harris gets the theme and essense of the western genre completely and aptly projects it as an homage of his to those Eastwood classics. And Yes. A Big Yes. It is brimmed with slick one liners, gritty panache and competitive duels, everything that the fan anticipates, gets it on a large scale. The conversations are weaved in brilliantly among the characters that are introduced smoothly as the screenplay enfolds. The narrative is undeniably gripping and strong but unfortunately isn't as layered and thought provoking, in fact the only possible mind game it can and does play, is keeping the crisp alive through uncertainty on all the flips and cheats and tricks. The chemistry between the lead cast is palpable to the environment and well enough to fuel this western buddy cop tale. Mortensen gets a more hyped version but in a subtle manner along with a reserved Harris, competitive and challenging Irons and chirpy Zellweger. The conversations with Zellweger of both Mortensen and Harris's are equally electrifying to encounter. The adaptation by Harris and Knott is gripping and intriguing enough to keep the audience tangled in its dirty bubble. The execution by Harris is appreciative but nothing extraordinary to be in an awe of it; it works good for him, it works good for the audience. The whistle blowing dialogues, competitive arguments, Zellweger's sweet performance and the typical cowboy essence that it offers the viewers are the high points of the feature. Appaloosa works like a charm on context of its insanely rugged bubble but to explore beyond that is moot, for it is a whole field of disappointment and a narrow ideology.