Appaloosa: A review that goes nowhere
I was none too impressed when I first saw the trailer for "Appaloosa." I'm not really a fan of westerns to begin with. But when the movie saw a nationwide release, my friend asked if I would go along so I did. Did the movie change my mind and turn me into a fan of the western genre or did it just help in turning me farther away from it?
"Appaloosa" is a film based on a 2005 novel of the same name by Robert B. Parker. The movie takes place in the town of Appaloosa (hence the name; it is not named after a breed of horse of the same name). The town is being terrorized by an outlaw by the name of Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) and his gang. When the marshal of Appaloosa, Jack Bell (Robert Jaurengui), and his two deputies go to Bragg's place to arrest him they are killed by Bragg himself. To replace the deceased deputy, enter Vigil Cole (Ed Harris) and his 8 gauge shot gun toting partner Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen). From this point Hitch acts as a pseudo narrator. Cole is a man who believes in the law and doing what is right and Hitch loyally follows him. Cole and Hitch quickly take the law into their own hands forcing the higher ups in town to sign over the city to them. The higher ups are reluctant to sign but when Bragg's men begin wreaking havok in the saloon they quickly do so. At this point Cole and Hitch quickly quell things at the bar by killing 3 of the 4 offenders. Everything is going well until out of nowhere and with no reason a woman by the name of Allison French (Renee Zellweger) comes into town on the train. Needless to say she becomes the romantic interest of Cole. It is evident that she will be the downfall of Cole from the moment she enters the film.
Within the first 45 minutes or so Cole and Hitch easily capture Bragg right out from under the nose of his rather worthless gang. Bragg is eventually tried and sentenced to death. He gets on the train to be taken to his place of hanging. But surprise, surprise, the train gets ambushed and they have French hostage and Cole is forced to give them Bragg in exchange for her safety. At this point Cole and Hitch track down Bragg and try to take him to fulfill his sentence. The covers the majority of the plot without spoiling the ending.
The movie may sound interesting but that is hardly the case. My main problem with the story is that at the end I was left wondering what was accomplished. I felt like nothing really happened. There was barely any conflict at all. The movie started out literally with a bang and seemed to have great potential but quckly began dragging it's proverbial feet. It was almost as if the climax was at the very beginning and the entire movie was simply falling action. There were so many areas where there was room to add conflict but they were never explored. In the end I just felt like the movie was pointless. I left asking myself "so what?"
Since I am not an actor I have decided to not talk about the acting in my reviews unless it is particularly awful, which in this case it was not. Instead I will focus on the characters themselves. I felt like the writers were trying to establish a certain type of personality for Cole but when French showed up and he "fell in love" his established personality did a complete 180. He was almost a completely different person. The quick change really took me out of the movie. I was getting into the mentality that Cole was a badass, who would never compromise on his morals then bam he becomes, pardon my language here, a complete pussy. That just doesn't work for the movie. The entire love aspect of the film felt artificial and added simply to have the romance aspect in the movie. I mean I understand they are trying to say that love changes people but the way they did it in this film was not believeable. The change to Cole's personality took me out of the film.
Don't even get me started on Allison French. The character was played by Renee Zelwegger, which in this writers opinion was a horrible casting call. Zelwegger just does not fit the part. The character herself was not fleshed out at all. She had no personality. All the writer seemed to want you to know is that she will sleep with anyone who has some power. There was really no reason for the character to even be in the film except to be captured and add conflict to an all but conflictless film. It was almost as if the writer realized after finishing the story that there was no conflict and wrote French in as an afterthought to create some.
Luckily Everret Hitch's character was consistent throughout the film. He was always loyal to Cole no matter what. He was sort of a one trick pony so to speak until the end when he acted out on his own. But although that may be the case the personality of the character was always the way he was written; no sudden unexplained changes. Hitch was always the cool, collected badass they made him out to be. Not to mention Mortensen does a great job. If not for Hitch the movie would have been a complete bust.
The "villain" of the film, Randall Bragg, was probably the weakest villain I have seen in a film in a long time. He was incompetent and worthless. He never did anything that made me go "wow he really is evil" or even worthy of being the main villain of a film. He was merely the villain because the film told us so. They forgot the first rule I was taught in writing, "show don't tell!" They never showed Bragg doing anything that definitively made him a bad guy in my mind.
I don't want to blame the shortcomings of the film entirely on the screenwriters since there was original source material, which I have not read, to work from and stay true to. But the film was to be nice not very good. It was neither entertaining nor thought provoking. I didn't hate it but I didn't like it either. I am merely indifferent to the fact that the film even exists at all. It does nothing new and just badly uses old western cliches. I'm actually surprised they didn't have Bragg tie French to the train tracks.
After seeing "Appaloosa," I watched "3:10 to Yuma" since I was told it was a much better film. After seeing 3:10 it just made me even more indifferent to "Appaloosa." If anything 3:10 may have converted me to a fan of westerns. "Appaloosa" on the other hand actually only had a hand at turning me father away from the genre. I don't think I would recommend the film even to a fan of the genre. The best thing I can say about the film is that it kills time.
"Appaloosa" is a film based on a 2005 novel of the same name by Robert B. Parker. The movie takes place in the town of Appaloosa (hence the name; it is not named after a breed of horse of the same name). The town is being terrorized by an outlaw by the name of Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) and his gang. When the marshal of Appaloosa, Jack Bell (Robert Jaurengui), and his two deputies go to Bragg's place to arrest him they are killed by Bragg himself. To replace the deceased deputy, enter Vigil Cole (Ed Harris) and his 8 gauge shot gun toting partner Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen). From this point Hitch acts as a pseudo narrator. Cole is a man who believes in the law and doing what is right and Hitch loyally follows him. Cole and Hitch quickly take the law into their own hands forcing the higher ups in town to sign over the city to them. The higher ups are reluctant to sign but when Bragg's men begin wreaking havok in the saloon they quickly do so. At this point Cole and Hitch quickly quell things at the bar by killing 3 of the 4 offenders. Everything is going well until out of nowhere and with no reason a woman by the name of Allison French (Renee Zellweger) comes into town on the train. Needless to say she becomes the romantic interest of Cole. It is evident that she will be the downfall of Cole from the moment she enters the film.
Within the first 45 minutes or so Cole and Hitch easily capture Bragg right out from under the nose of his rather worthless gang. Bragg is eventually tried and sentenced to death. He gets on the train to be taken to his place of hanging. But surprise, surprise, the train gets ambushed and they have French hostage and Cole is forced to give them Bragg in exchange for her safety. At this point Cole and Hitch track down Bragg and try to take him to fulfill his sentence. The covers the majority of the plot without spoiling the ending.
The movie may sound interesting but that is hardly the case. My main problem with the story is that at the end I was left wondering what was accomplished. I felt like nothing really happened. There was barely any conflict at all. The movie started out literally with a bang and seemed to have great potential but quckly began dragging it's proverbial feet. It was almost as if the climax was at the very beginning and the entire movie was simply falling action. There were so many areas where there was room to add conflict but they were never explored. In the end I just felt like the movie was pointless. I left asking myself "so what?"
Since I am not an actor I have decided to not talk about the acting in my reviews unless it is particularly awful, which in this case it was not. Instead I will focus on the characters themselves. I felt like the writers were trying to establish a certain type of personality for Cole but when French showed up and he "fell in love" his established personality did a complete 180. He was almost a completely different person. The quick change really took me out of the movie. I was getting into the mentality that Cole was a badass, who would never compromise on his morals then bam he becomes, pardon my language here, a complete pussy. That just doesn't work for the movie. The entire love aspect of the film felt artificial and added simply to have the romance aspect in the movie. I mean I understand they are trying to say that love changes people but the way they did it in this film was not believeable. The change to Cole's personality took me out of the film.
Don't even get me started on Allison French. The character was played by Renee Zelwegger, which in this writers opinion was a horrible casting call. Zelwegger just does not fit the part. The character herself was not fleshed out at all. She had no personality. All the writer seemed to want you to know is that she will sleep with anyone who has some power. There was really no reason for the character to even be in the film except to be captured and add conflict to an all but conflictless film. It was almost as if the writer realized after finishing the story that there was no conflict and wrote French in as an afterthought to create some.
Luckily Everret Hitch's character was consistent throughout the film. He was always loyal to Cole no matter what. He was sort of a one trick pony so to speak until the end when he acted out on his own. But although that may be the case the personality of the character was always the way he was written; no sudden unexplained changes. Hitch was always the cool, collected badass they made him out to be. Not to mention Mortensen does a great job. If not for Hitch the movie would have been a complete bust.
The "villain" of the film, Randall Bragg, was probably the weakest villain I have seen in a film in a long time. He was incompetent and worthless. He never did anything that made me go "wow he really is evil" or even worthy of being the main villain of a film. He was merely the villain because the film told us so. They forgot the first rule I was taught in writing, "show don't tell!" They never showed Bragg doing anything that definitively made him a bad guy in my mind.
I don't want to blame the shortcomings of the film entirely on the screenwriters since there was original source material, which I have not read, to work from and stay true to. But the film was to be nice not very good. It was neither entertaining nor thought provoking. I didn't hate it but I didn't like it either. I am merely indifferent to the fact that the film even exists at all. It does nothing new and just badly uses old western cliches. I'm actually surprised they didn't have Bragg tie French to the train tracks.
After seeing "Appaloosa," I watched "3:10 to Yuma" since I was told it was a much better film. After seeing 3:10 it just made me even more indifferent to "Appaloosa." If anything 3:10 may have converted me to a fan of westerns. "Appaloosa" on the other hand actually only had a hand at turning me father away from the genre. I don't think I would recommend the film even to a fan of the genre. The best thing I can say about the film is that it kills time.
Comments
though i AM glad you liked hitch, as he was, in my opinion as well, the best part of the film. :)