Open Range (2003)

best movie i've ever seen.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Haven't seen a movie take in the (Alberta) scenery this well since Unforgiven. If I hadn't lived there this movie would make me want to move there. Robert Duvall is good in every movie he's ever been in, this one included. Annette Bening should be in more movies. Kevin Costner, well, he does Kevin Costner well enough. Good supporting cast, including some reliable Canucks. The plot is 100% paint-by-numbers, from the bromance to the romance to the Peckinpah-level of killing. How did America come to accept all this blood as normal? No wonder it's a country where crazies are shooting up schools on a weekly basis.

I never get tired of this movie and I don't even want to count the times that I have seen it. Beautifully written, great acting, costumes, scenery. I cannot think of anything I didn't like about it. Annette Bening is definitely one of my favorite actors right along up there with Robert Duvall. Costner was great in this too. I was drawn into this from the opening and maintained the same level of interest until the end credits. I think this is one of the must see westerns and rate it up there along with such classics as The Searchers, Shane and High Noon. I am a huge western fan and when I come across a great one, I can be entertained by watching again as though it were the first time because with great writing, there is always a small part you might pick up the next time you see it that you missed the first time.

Kevin Costner's second best western! This features good performances, a decent story, a superb cast, excellent cinematography, and deserving kudos all around. This features some men who are in the 19th century America as cattle herders and explorers. They wind up in an inevitable showdown against a corrupt lawman as they are pushed against the edge of the frontier.I loved watching Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, and Annette Benning together. This is the type of movie you might want to watch if you are into the western genre. If you liked Dances With Wolves, you will like this one.*** out of ****

Some people say the western is dead, but I disagree; once in a while a good one comes along and shakes up people's opinions and generally impresses everybody. The last time was UNFORGIVEN, now it's Costner's OPEN RANGE, which is not up to the level of Eastwood's movie but is still generally pretty good. The biggest problem is the pacing, which is quite slow, but then for somebody who sat through THE POSTMAN, it seemed to go by pretty quick. Not much to say about this really, other than the scenery, the camera-work, and the music are all excellent, and the subdued acting from the cast is fine – with the exception of villain Michael Gambon, who is anything but subdued when he chews the scenery. I still ended up feeling sorry for him though. Costner is definitely on the back-burner here, giving all the major dramatics to buddy Robert Duvall, who is doing very well for a guy who must be about 110 by now. Then again he always looked old.I usually hate Annette Bening but she was excellent here as the love interest, whilst Abraham Benrubi has a small but pivotal role as a fellow cow poke and makes it really sympathetic. The script is intelligent and, although adding nothing new to the genre – at the heart this is a simple revenge story – keeps you interested throughout. Things (eventually) pick up for the hair-raising shoot-out at the end, which makes very good use indeed of loud gunshots and surprising stunts, so is definitely worth waiting for. All in all a good, solid addition to the genre.