Appaloosa

As Westerns go, Appaloosa isn't a masterpiece, but it's still a good film: it is rarely boring and the dynamics of the relationship between the two male leads (Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen) make for a very enjoyable work of cinema. It's a little bit more restrained than other Westerns in that the action scenes aren't TOO violent or long or loud, which I think is a welcome thing.

The insertion of a love triangle as part of the plot would seem like a contrivance, but it doesn't unfold as one at all here. There is a scene in which Allie (Rene Zellwegger), the female stuck between the two protagonists, tells Virgil (Harris) that Everett (Mortensen) tried to kissed her. Normally, this would immediately lead to Virgil getting pissed off and a fight breaking out between him and Everett, but instead, Virgil nonchalantly informs the vixen that he trusts Everett more than he trusts her, thus shutting up the instigating woman. This is actually a good scene to note in terms of assessing the overall film, which is really more about the complicity between Virgil and Everett than it is about the love triangle between the two men and Allie.

Though there are some showdown-like moments towards the end, there isn't any sort of huge, overblown, guns-a-blazin' action scene during the climax, as some may expect. Appaloosa is a notch below, say, last year's 3:10 To Yuma, because although both films are entertaining, the latter had a more powerful final half hour, and it was also blessed with the presence of the slimy and wickedly villainous Ben Foster. Don't get me wrong, Jeremy Irons is predictably good as Bragg, the film's central evildoer, but he doesn't give you the chills that Foster's character gives you in the earlier film. With that said, though, Ed Harris has given us a decent entry into a genre that has been largely ignored, thus giving us a sign that the Western film isn't quite gone yet, at least as long as it continues to be handled as adeptly as it has been handled here. Appaloosa is well-paced, adequately acted, and it has plenty of funny one-liners and moments of tension to make for solid entertainment.

6/10