Appaloosa Review: C+
Jeremy Irons swaggering around in a cowboy get up, toting a gun around and being generally, western-ly awesome? I’m there.
Appaloosa is set in the Old West, and focuses on the trials of two gunslingers hired by the town of
Ed Harris stars with Viggo Mortensen as Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, the City Marshall and Deputy who use their guns to uphold their laws. Renee Zellweger underwhelms as the floozy, Allison French, and Jeremy Irons curls his long, elegant fingers around a gun as the outlaw Randall Bragg. Timothy Spall also has a part worth mentioning, playing a fear strangled official of Appaloosa and offering a few small laughs.
The film was directed by Ed Harris, and I think his flair for the subtlety of characterization really came through here. I’m so used to watching him ground himself in his roles, developing and delivering well rounded, independent performances. Directorally (that’s a word now), he seems to focus on his actors. Each player has some truly powerful moments, be it through comedy, gunslinging, villainy or good old fashioned drama. The most enjoyable characters to watch are the leads, Cole and Hitch.
Mortensen near steals the show with his lawman-with-a-heart routine. He is so soft hearted and kind, and yet at the same time he manages to carrying himself as the man you would never want to see angry. It’s easy to accept him as a feared gunman, as well as Cole’s closest friend. Harris supplies some great deliveries, his comment at the end of a shoot out literally cause the house to rock with laughter. Together they’re dynamic and engaging, their chemistry bringing life to what is, ultimately, a fairly slow paced film.
Zellweger, unfortunately, could not seem to provide the same level of honest enthusiasm for her role that was absolutely pouring off of the two leading men. She faltered, her character appearing flat and apparently based on one or two words. I know what she wanted to be. She wanted to be charming, and was as much as cardboard can be, and she wanted to be uninhibited. Instead, her character came off as selfish and transparent. I never doubted for a second what her intentions were, even as the tangled web between Cole, Hitch and Mrs. French had even begun to be woven.
Earlier I mentioned that I really only came to see this movie for Jeremey Irons. While I’m pleasantly surprised to have found other things to enjoy, it really would have just been worth the price of a ticket for him alone. Why? Picture Scar from the Lion King ordering you off of his land, and then shooting you in the face for not doing it. Then picture him taking over a town through wit, charm, money and fear. All while remaining graceful and while sporting an immaculate vocabulary.
As far as the looks and sounds of the film, I can’t really complain. There was a scene in a sand storm that looked a bit odd, but I don’t imagine a sand storm really lends itself to ideal shooting conditions. The film was never too dark for me to see, nor too bright whenever they were outside. Both of these happen a lot in western movies, I’ve notice, in an effort to make it appear more edgy or pointed. The camera did what it needed to do, and never distracted me enough from the story to take any particular note of it.
That’s not to say there weren’t other things that took me out of the world of the film. Some of their lines, the word choices the writer or director made, seemed out of place for the time period. The same can be said for some of the strange casting decisions. Though, once I decided the movie wasn’t taking itself all that seriously, I found myself more willing to forgive these oddities.
At the end of it all, Appaloosa is an entertaining trip through the old west. It’s linear, easy paced, and sometimes falters in the quality of its performers, but the leads and the journeys their characters go on make up for it all. It’s worth a look at a matinee price, at least.
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