Movie Review: Appaloosa

Meh.

Granted, I watched this at 11:00 at night when I was tired and distracted. Still, this was a pretty lukewarm performance. I have to agree with one of the Rotten Tomatoes critics who said that it was like Ed Harris couldn't decide whether he was filming a Western or a Romance. He seems to try to meld both and simply falls short.

Now, don't get me wrong, it was an entertaining, engaging movie, and I don't regret putting it on my Netflix queue. But I just couldn't seem to get invested in the characters like I did with Tombstone or with 3:10 to Yuma.

The acting was well done, the scenery excellent, and the characters entertaining. But the storyline was very thin and seemed strung together, as though the writer made up a checklist of "Classic Western" set-pieces and then came up with a basic thread to hang them all on. There's the rich bad guy who wants to control the town, complete with a band of thugs who raise heck. There's the saloon/hotel, the train hijack, the old Marshall getting murdered, the tracking/hunting/chasing expedition through the brush, the Indian attack, the showdown between the Marshall and the bad guy's cronies at the porch of the jail, and of course the love triangle between the lead, the sidekick and the girl. And, at the risk of giving away the somewhat anticlimactic surprise ending, the classic shootout hastily tacked on, almost as an afterthought, at the end of the film.

I think, as good as the final twist was, that in a way it was the worst part. Not because it wasn't surprising or well played, but because it just sort of showed up apparently without warning. There wasn't really any build-up to it. Frankly, I was expecting at least another half hour of film when all of a sudden the movie was over!

As much as I might complain, it really wasn't all that bad a movie. Certainly fits the "Western" formula well. As I said, most elements of the film were excellent (acting, costume, scenery, effects, etc.). Wrapped around a decent, non-formulaic story, it would have been awesome. As it was, however, I'd say 3 stars is a stretch.