Oh dear...
I went to see Appaloosa at the cinema tonight and...'oh dear' is about the best way I can phrase it. It is not a good film. Ed Harris should most definitely stick to acting, not directing. He's very good in it, acting-wise. All of them are, although Jeremy Irons' accent is atrocious. And Renee Zellweger was terrible, all simpering and batted eyelashes and 'well, I declare!' I all but winced everytime she came onscreen, and everytime she was on I wanted her gone. She gave much the same performance in Cold Mountain, which I also thought was terrible, although the Academy seemed to agree since they gave her an Oscar for it. But that's by the by. Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen were good, at any rate.
It's just very badly edited, for a start. There are so many awkward cuts and odd camera angles, including more than a few that end up looking up a horse's butt. Ummm... And it just rambles all over the place. I couldn't tell where the hell the film was going or what the actual plot was meant to be. And there were several scenes that had me going 'huh?' because I couldn't for the life of me tell what was meant to be happening, how they served the plot or what was going on. It was a very talky Western, which I'm not actually complaining about. The fact that it was more talk and less action, I don't mind. It just seemed to be lots of talk with no real direction or end product.
Yeah. About the only thing I did like was the fact that, intentional or not, Viggo's character Everett seemed to be quite clearly in love with Ed Harris' character Virgil. He was absolutely devoted to him, did everything for him, knew him inside and out and gave up everything for him. He even said at one point to Virgil's love interest, Renee Zellweger's character, that they were 'both with him'. I liked that, but that was about it.
*sighs* It's a shame. I had really high hopes for this movie. I love Westerns and they don't come along too often these days. And I've read a fair few good reviews for this, so I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I saw a different film to everyone else!
It's just very badly edited, for a start. There are so many awkward cuts and odd camera angles, including more than a few that end up looking up a horse's butt. Ummm... And it just rambles all over the place. I couldn't tell where the hell the film was going or what the actual plot was meant to be. And there were several scenes that had me going 'huh?' because I couldn't for the life of me tell what was meant to be happening, how they served the plot or what was going on. It was a very talky Western, which I'm not actually complaining about. The fact that it was more talk and less action, I don't mind. It just seemed to be lots of talk with no real direction or end product.
Yeah. About the only thing I did like was the fact that, intentional or not, Viggo's character Everett seemed to be quite clearly in love with Ed Harris' character Virgil. He was absolutely devoted to him, did everything for him, knew him inside and out and gave up everything for him. He even said at one point to Virgil's love interest, Renee Zellweger's character, that they were 'both with him'. I liked that, but that was about it.
*sighs* It's a shame. I had really high hopes for this movie. I love Westerns and they don't come along too often these days. And I've read a fair few good reviews for this, so I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I saw a different film to everyone else!