Review of Appaloosa (2008) by Josh S — 06 Oct 2009

The closest thing to an old Western I have seen in a new Western. The pacing is very similar, it just doesn't have the melodramatic acting and horribly exaggerated deaths where one random shot is severely deadly. Filmgoers expecting Tombstone will be sorely disappointed, but for someone who believed what he saw in the trailer and viewed the film expecting what he saw, I was not really disappointed. The film plays out slow. Action and brutality at the beginning and then a plot that moves along at it's own pace. It is a tough Western and Ed Harris is no Clint Eastwood, but this is his own production and I must say, I had fun.

I did have two problems with this film though.The editing wasn't great. It needed work. Some shots were too long and you could see they threw in a pointless cut just to make the shots seem more interesting. This was forgivable. The dialogue wasn't really all that either. Viggo Mortensen's character was a little bit of a waste. He plays more of a silent partner who shoots people. Ed Harris is full of tough guy one liners (as well as stumbling with words he cannot readily pronounce). The top job goes to Jeremy Irons who plays the film's antagonist. He acts smoothly and with that calm ferocity like Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood. He just doesn't seem like a truly bad man, although the first scene is of him gunning down three lawmen.

That is the basic gist of the story. The sheriff of Appaloosa and two of his deputies are ruthlessly killed by a Randall Bragg (Irons) who has connections with President Chester A. Arthur. After this mishap, the local authorities call upon two toughs, Virgil Cole (Harris) and Everett Hitch (Mortensen) to become the new lawmen and impose their strict justice on the lawless in their town. These two men are trained gunmen; Cole being the natural who is the best there is, and Hitch being a new protege of his. They are both excellent shots and are received well by the town after killing three of Bragg's men in a saloon. Bragg wages war on them, but is apprehended on the murders committed at the beginning of the film and put on trial. After being found guilty, his captors lead him to his prison, but he escapes with a little help from his friends. Now Cole and Hitch go after him to end it once and for all.

I found it classic in a way. If the old Westerns of Ford and Hawks were done today, they would be very similar. Like I said, Ed Harris is no Eastwood and Mortensen is no John Wayne, but it is a good story and a steadily paced Western film in my opinion. For a time that doesn't really put out Westerns anymore, it is something innovative and God bless Ed Harris for trying.