Appaloosa (2008)

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Appaloosa (2008) is a western film starring Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger, and Jeremy Irons. This movie did so many things right. First I'll go over what I liked. First of all, the cast did a great job with their roles. I especially loved Zellweger and Mortensen, they both had really interesting characters and they did a wonderful job at portraying them. It's of course true that this is a western film, but it is also a character study. These characters are not the usual stereotypical ones you typically see in western movies. That's why i really loved these characters, they had depth and I was actually interested in their stories and why they were how they were. Jeremy Irons plays the villain, becuase every western must have a proper villain, and Irons is a very good actor to play such a character. The writing is interesting. I loved the dialogue between Zellweger and the two main men, Harris and Mortensen, that was where the script stood out and where depth was given to the characters. I suggest this film to anyone, western fan or not, I think anyone can and will enjoy this movie. 8/10.

Reviewed October 2011I was surprised to see in the titles that Ed Harris has directed this movie. Anyways, it resembles a bit of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' for the portrayal of the lead characters and it is a template western with all it's stereotypes used to it's advantage. All I can say about this one is, it has nothing not to like and nothing too much to like too. Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) are reputed gunslinging partners and are hired by a town for a price to protect them from an unruly rancher, Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons). The famed duo start off in their style and stays a step ahead of the bandits by controlling their movement in the town. Then arrives a 'young' widow Allison French (Renee Zellweger) which changes the equation a bit as both Everett and Virgil fall for her. Later with a few incidents they come to know that Allison is a a woman who likes to be with the head of the pack. So it is just a competition from here to be the head of the pack as more people join the competition adding more duels, putting in loyalty in the mixture and what not. It is a western that could've had an edge, but the safe directing approach by the inexperienced Ed Harris sucks the joy out of it. In my opinion, James Mangold would've done a terrific job the same way he did with '3:10 to Yuma'. I haven't seen a lot of Viggo Mortensen apart from the LOTR series, History of Violence and Eastern Promises. In all these movie he plays a man of control and does a terrific job. He plays the same here too, but somehow feels extremely inadequate mostly I suspect because of his look here. Never been fond of Renee Zellweger and she does not raise any bars here though she lands a terrific character. The role is of a sultry seductress and Zellweger puts no effort to back it. I enjoy subtlety, but to be too subtle to even make it's point is pointless. Best watched when you are too lazy to change the movie midway and has nothing else to do.

This is an excellent movie. I liked that it was done on film instead of digital. It gives a different feel to the movie. I also liked that the filming was done as a vintage western would have been done. The movie unfolds at a pace that draws the viewer into the plot and is not rushed and cluttered with too much action. All the scenes advance the plot. There is no gratuitous violence, just what is needed to tell the story. The costuming is great, lots of attention was given to make everyone look authentic to 1882, including the Indians. The sets were like real places with small touches to make each set personal and accurate to the times. The weapons and gear for the horses were authentic and period as well. And I loved the train! The movie was very well cast, all the characters were convincing and real to me. When I saw the top 3 male names in the cast, I knew it was going to be good. And it didn't disappoint.

The cast is great and provided outstanding acting. Their characters are highly interesting. It's well worth watching once but the story-line becomes increasingly implausible as the movie unfolds.A small one-street one-horse town is having problems with Jeremy Irons, the rich cattle baron who thinks he owns the place and his men have no problems with shooting-up both the town and anybody they want at the drop of a hat.So, the town fathers hire Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen to bring law and order to the town.And along comes Renee Zellweger who arrives in town and needs a job, and she can play the piano and winds up with a job at the saloon.OK, so far a standard plot line.Here's where the spoilers start: Jeremy (the bad guy) also owns this elaborate and ornate saloon that no one-horse town in the middle of nowhere can support. But that's where Renee gets a job behind the piano.Jeremy murders a deputy marshal at his ranch. Ed and Viggo go out to arrest him. He's tried, convicted and sentenced to death.On his way by train to go to the place of execution, Jeremy's gang get's him released while the train is at a remote water stop, with Renee with them as a hostage.She'll be released when they're safely away. Well, O.K. But why can't the train just go forward until it's out of sight, they release Renee, ride away, and the train backs up to get her? After all, everyone knows that there are no horses in a freight car for them to pursue the bad guys and get Renee.Eventually, Ed and Viggo have the horses and supplies they need and finally have the bad guys in sight, along with a bunch of hostile Indians who are about to attack the bad guys for their horses and weapons.The Indians attack. One scene has Renee, in her underwear, kicking and screaming while slung over an Indians shoulder. However, for some miraculous reason, Renee and Jeremy survive. The rest of the bad guys were either dead or fled. (Maybe the Indians decided not to steal her because they didn't have a piano.) O.K. Jeremy is recaptured. The team arrives at the nearest town and Jeremy is placed in the local jail for safe keeping while they figure out what to do next. But Jeremy and the local sheriff are friends.To cut to the chase: Jeremy, the evil local sheriff and the sheriff's deputies have a shoot-out with Ed and Viggo. Everybody gets killed or wounded except Jeremy, who escapes out of town on a galloping horse.Later, back at the one-horse town, Ed gets a telegram that states President Chester A. Author has granted a pardon to Jeremy for murdering an officer of the law. Jeremy swaggers back to town as a free man.But what about his gang's kidnapping Renee to demand his release from the train? What about the shoot-out at the evil sheriff's town, where people were murdered? Why wasn't that sheriff brought to justice?Aren't they all crimes, too? I guess they didn't want all of that to interfere with the story-line and people just wouldn't notice or care.Anyway, by the end of the movie, bad guys never win.Again, I think the actors and the characters they portrayed are great. But, wow, there are also a bunch of "Huh?????? This doesn't make sense" moments to make this a higher rated movie.