I will preface my review by saying that it's definitely possible that I totally missed the point of this movie. When I watch a western, I expect some good gunfights, the proper amount of drama, a main character who is flawed, but likable, and an obvious villain that I can strongly dislike. "Appaloosa" really didn't fit any of these, but like I say, perhaps I missed the point of the film altogether. This movie gets 2, maybe 2.5 stars
In some previews, "Appaloosa" was billed as the best western since "Unforgiven." I absolutely loved "Unforgiven" so my expectations were set very high. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. "Appaloosa" was disjointed, filled with weak characters, and lacked any real drama or action.
I'm finding that I really don't like Ed Harris as an actor anymore. He was terrible in this movie. Adding further disappointment were weak performances by Jeremy Irons, Renee Zellwegger and Lance Henriksen.
On the other hand, Viggo Mortensen is outstanding as Everett Hitch. He's the only character in the movie that's even remotely likable, and Mortensen executes the role brilliantly. He also manages to pull off the only good gunfight of the movie. Hopefully we'll see Mortensen in another western soon. As a fan of most westerns, I'll line up to watch that one.
Anyway, hopefully if you choose to watch "Appaloosa" you'll enjoy it more than I did. If you've seen it and I did miss the point, please feel free to let me know what the point was.
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