Review of Unforgiven (1992) by Adam M — 15 Feb 2011

This dark and undramatized western depicts a completely new look for the genre. Unforgiven at times seems to have something fresh and special going on, but film just doesn't have enough power to keep up with the feeling. One of the best qualities of this film is the way it shows the more realistic parts of the west, not using endless chases and duels to add effect. Clint Eastwood does a wonderful job directing and acting, he once again shows his daringness but unfortunately Unforgiven just doesn't work that way he would have wanted.

Clint Eastwood rose to fame with his portrayal of The Man With No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollar Trilogy. Now Clint Eastwood is a legend to the entire film industry and he revisits the genre with this gritty tale of violence. Eastwood is William Munny, a former outlaw and killer who has been living a quiet life since his marriage, but now he is widowed and raising his two kids on his farm. He is approached by the Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvett), a confident self proclaimed "killer." Schofield Kid proposes that they work together to catch a pair of guys who are wanted for cutting up a whore. At first he refuses, but he decides to make this his last job and to use the money to help the kids. Eastwood never dissapoints when it comes to playing take no nonsense characters, homever there is something special about this performance. For this performance Eastwood doesn't play his usual hot badass gunslinger, instead he plays an aging tortured man looking for peace in his lost life. Mr. Eastwood shows us once again why he is a king of the western genre.

Cold-hearted, violent sheriff Little Bill Daggett is played by Gene Hackman. Hackman is one of the most respected actors to ever grace the screen, with saying that I must claim that this is one of his most powerful performances. His character is repulsively horrible. To be completely honest just about the entire time he was on the screen I was digging my fingers into my couch cushion from how angry his character made me, and that deserves true praise. Morgan Freeman is also featured in this film. He plays Ned Logan, a retired gunfighter who was a former aquaintence of Munny. His character is has lost all killer mentality over the year and has become mentally weak over time.

Unforgiven is carried by three legends of film, Eastwood, Hackman, and Freeman. I have learned that performances can definetly carry a film to greatness, a couple of examples are Amercian History X (Edward Norton and Edward Furlong) and Brokeback Mountain (Heath Ledger), but those films also had other aspects that help them achieve greatness. Unforgiven has the performances, but the storyline lacks what is needed to make it a truly great western. While the film does portray violence in a real way it also lacks the amount of violence needed. Furthermore the script does not allow the actors to make their performances as memorable as it could have. You expect Clint Eastwood to rock you with a line that is an emotion sucker-punch, but it just doesn't happen. Eastwood direction is another strong point, but unlike acting directing is just not able to make a film great. Along with directing a film needs a strong storyline. Eastwood is a revolutionary when it comes to the western genre, Unforgiven is a very strong film and does plenty of good for the struggling genre, but not the violent achievement I was expecting.

Box-Office: 160 million.

Mood-O-Meter: 85-86% or ***1/2.