The Proposition (2006)

To me, this movie is perfection.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

A masterclass performance from Guy Pearce, who lets his eyes tell you his story rather than his words as he roams a harsh desolate landscape. Violence and chaos is the rule of the land, where the cops are no better than the crims and a bullet is the only one telling the truth. Danny Huston also gives his best ever role, a character actor who is no household name but defines his career here. Beautiful score from Nick Cave who backs up his debut screenplay with haunting whispers and violin cues signalling the bleakness of a no holds barred time in history. All the supporting roles are effective, especially Ray Winstone as the corrupt and ruthless police captain. The cinematography is the best i've ever seen in an Australian film, where colour and light are presented at their most elegant and stunning, the desert, the town, the rocks, the trees, light up your eyes and stay in your mind. I would love to visit the shooting locations. Wow.The story is terrific from the get go, with the final shot summarising all the themes and ideas that have been built up previously. Masterful filmmaking and a movie that deserves to be recalled as a classic western.

While this film is nothing extraordinary, Ms. Emily Watson certainly is and she is absolutely brilliant in what easily could have been a throwaway role. It was a fantastically imaginative casting choice by the director to choose Watson as what he probably wished would be more than the typical "frontier wife." He got much, much more as Emily Watson gives a performance of subtle sexuality, passion, and courage. In doing so, she does what she usually does and makes this film her own. It takes tremendous talent and incredible power for her to step forth from this group of male actors and in beautiful fashion demonstrate her exceptionality as an artist. She breathes life into what could have been a stale stereotype and sets fire to the screen in several stupendous scenes. The only problem is she is underused and the camera spends too little time on her glowing face and blinding cinematic presence. However, what she does with the camera time she is given is miraculous and for that reason this film is a 10. Watson is indeed the most powerfully talented and divinely gifted actor working in cinema today and she continues to astonish audiences with each succeeding performance in a way that no other actor can touch.

Well, no matter how I rate this movie a lot of people are going to say that my rating is wrong. That is something that you probably can say about any rating for any movie. I feel it is especially true as far as this movie goes though. As you can see from my rating I was not exactly thrilled by the movie. That does not mean that it is a bad movie. Again, this you can say about a lot of ratings, especially my ratings.Okay, I guess I have confused everyone enough now so let me try to explain. As a piece of cinematic art this movie is excellent. The acting is quite good. I especially liked John Hurt as the literate bounty hunter but most of the main characters where performing admirably. The scenery is wonderful. The Australian outback makes for a excellent backdrop and it is indeed a nice change from the classical North American western sceneries.As a movie it falls flat though. In my opinion a movie should at least try to tell a story. Even if it aspires to be a piece of art it should try and tell a story that the audience can, in one way or another, follow. This movie have a basic idea of a story but it does not really tell a story. We never get to now who the bad guys really are, what they really did, except for a bunch of hints about killing and rape, or why. Heck, we never actually get to know of the guy the flogged to death where really taking part in the deed or not.Throughout the movie the bad guys are supposedly hiding in some place where it is impossible to get them so the main character tries to get the bad guys brother to kill him. Not very plausible at all. The governor, Eden Fletcher played by David Wenham, or whatever he as supposed to be was pretty much an asshole. Okay every movie has to have one but his role was never really developed. Once he managed to get the young kid, innocent or not, flogged we really do not see much of him for the rest of the movie.The end of the movie is much the same as the rest of the movie. Cinematically excellent but not much of a story. There is no real conclusion. It just ends in a sequence of well done scenes but without any real story behind it.Maybe I'm a too simple mind when it comes to these kind of movies but I, even though I appreciated the graphics that was shown on my TV-screen, I did not really enjoy it as a movie.

The only thing in this world that is more slowly paced than this movie is Continental Drift! I kept looking at the clock, kept wondering when it was going pick up speed. It never did. On the box, one of the critics claims this to be a classic in the vein of Peckinpah, Eastwood, Leone. I'm considering suing said critic for "false advertisement" or misrepresentation. I really have nothing else to say about it but they're telling me I've not written enough, hence: this filler. I miss the days of Peckinpah, the time before writers thought it necessary to fill script with "f*ck"s and "GD"s. (BTW: Were/are flies really that bad in Australia?)