Review of Appaloosa (2008) by Jérôme V — 02 Aug 2009

Appaloosa is a psychological western in the vein of High Noon or 3:10 to Yuma. On the surface, with its gorgeous set design of the old West, it have the veneer of a John Ford movie. But the story, about friendship, honour and sense of duty, dense with characterization, make it a beast all its own. Appaloosa is packed with great characters, all of them played with real panache by a delightful cast. On top of them all, Mortensen and Harris are in the top of their games. They are the ultimate cow-boys buddies, who said more with their silences than with words. The chemistry between these two fine actors is evident throughout the entire flick.

Hopefully, Appaloosa is not entirely psychological and, just like the best of its genre, have a few cards in its sleeves. True respect for the western genre comes in the form of two well made street duals (and Harris have sufficient insight not to filmed and edited them in Leoneâ??s fashion), an exhilarating chase and a particularly tense meeting involving Indians.

Although not perfect (this is no Searchers or Good, bad and Ugly), it is still a nice piece of work. Considering the low number of film makers daring to make western anymore, the few good that come to the surface really deserve to be taking into account. This is one of those.