An average movie

Even though this movie didn't really have a stellar  reputation, since I have a weak spot for Natalie Portman, I was still eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, while watching this flick, I felt rather bad for Portman who was also producer on this project. Indeed, the pre-production was rather difficult for this flick as such actors like Michael Fassbender, Bradley Cooper and Jude Law all dropped out at some point, but, above all, Lynne Ramsay, probably one of the main reasons why Portman got involved in the first place, left this movie just a few days before shooting this flick. Well, I finally saw the damned thing and it turned out to be a rather boring Western with a really generic plot. The ludicrous happy ending didn't really help either. At least, it was visually decent enough but there was just no mood whatsoever and, while I could criticise Gavin O'Connor, we have to keep in mind that the guy didn't have much time to prep as he had to start shooting right away. Still, we can only imagine what a fine director like Lynne Ramsay could have done with this material. Concerning the cast, Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton did what they could and they actually delivered some solid performances but I still had a hard time to really care about their characters. On the other hand, I was actually quite impressed by Ewan McGregor who managed to completely disappear in his character in just a couple of scenes. Anyway, to conclude, the whole thing felt like a missed opportunity but I guess it is still worth a look, even if it could have been so much better.

6/10