Review of Wyatt Earp (1994) by Xgary X — 30 Jan 2008

For a decade or so, from the late-'80s to late-'90s, cardboard Kev Costner was Hollywood's everyman of choice, before a series of increasingly elephantine projects associated him in the public consciousness with an aching backside and a struggle to stay awake, allowing Tom Hanks to usurp his throne.

"Wyatt Earp" is a marvellous film with a majestic sweep, but it marked the beginning of the end of Costner's popularity and, before long, "Waterworld" and "The Postman" would topple him off the A-list for good.

What separates this film from the legion of other retellings of Earp's story is, not so much its greater claim to historical accuracy as its portrayal of the typically goody-goody Earp, as a deeply flawed individual whom it was almost impossible to like.

There's genuine darkness here but, unfortunately, Costner hasn't quite got the acting ability to nail it. The rest of the cast is great but a skeletal Dennis Quaid walks away with the movie as Doc Holiday, his performance infinitely preferable to Val Kilmer's self-consciously showy turn in "Tombstone", which was an enthusiastic B-movie but nothing more.

Excepting some bluish day-for-night that I don't much care for, the film looks terrific, too.