When sitting down to watch a western made in this decade, I typically hold all of them up to the standards of “Tombstone” or even “3:10 to Yuma.”  I expect really dynamic character development and tons of gun fights in saloons with sassy bar maids and harlots ducking in the wings.  Hollywood’s new found affinity to western films is a welcome resurgence of the genre.  I loved “3:10 to Yuma” and “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” was one of my favorite films of last year.  So where does “Appaloosa” stand with the greats of western film hierarchy?  The film’s strengths are its two amazing leads Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen, but it starts to lose steam when a young damsel (Renee Zellweger) gets in the way, derailing the pace a bit.

The plot follows two men, Everett Hitch (Mortensen) and Virgil Cole (Harris), who are for-hire peacekeepers in a land of anarchy, the Wild West.  They wander into the town of Appaloosa that is currently being ravaged by the outlaw Randall Bragg, who just shot the towns’ marshal and deputies in cold blood and is wanted for trial.  Cole and Hitch quickly get the town officials to make their word the final word of the law and the two men get to work cleaning up Bragg’s scum from the streets of Appaloosa, roughing up a few along the way and even shooting a couple that really deserved it.  Then the wrench in the machine enters as little miss innocent Allison French (Zellweger).  She gets off the train with her little sun umbrella and squinty eyes and puckered face (like she just ate something sour, the Zellweger look) and Cole is immediately smitten with her.  He starts courting her, even though in his line of work feelings are the very thing that gets you killed.  SPOILER WARNING!!!!   Especially when he finds out that Miss French is working for Bragg and has a knack for going after whoever is top hen in the coup.  The film derails a bit here, but maybe it’s just that Cole and Hitch are such good characters everyone else pales in comparison.

The character development and friendship between Cole and Hitch is outstanding and both actors are pitch-perfect.  They have a sarcastic, buddy tone with each other that indicates years of history between them.  The pace and tone of the film is great when it’s the two of them against their nemesis Bragg (Jeremy Irons by the way), but once Zellweger comes in the film lost my interest a little.  It could be partly because I’m not a huge Renee Zellweger fan, but also because the plot starts to meander with Cole’s mixed feelings about Miss French and how she betrayed him, then Bragg gets away with everything and becomes a “good guy” in the town, but he obviously still has devious motives.  The reversal of Bragg is believable and totally justified, it just takes the steam out of having an arch-villain versus good guy showdown at the end.  The film focuses more on the characters and their arcs than any action or shoot-outs, so don’t expect the “thunderous action” the front cover claims (Peter Travers, what does thunderous action mean to you?), but you should expect some interesting characters and a well-developed plot.  I really enjoyed the film, if they had just cast someone else as Allison French.  I didn’t buy the love story between Cole and French enough that he would want to go back with her after she betrayed him.  I didn’t see his motivation most likely because I don’t buy Renee Zellweger in her role (or many roles for that matter). 

I have to state this again, however, all beef about the love triangle aside, Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris are fantastic together and worth watching the film solely for them.  Ed Harris also does one hell of a job directing, with beautiful landscapes and enough breathing room in the shots to get the scope of the Wild West.  I would recommend this film to people who like character dramas, not people who are die-hard action junkies. 

Special Features:

-          Commentary by Director Ed Harris and Screenwriter Robert Knott

-          Additional Scenes six short scenes, with an extended prologue that gives a little more back-story to the chaos of Appaloosa which is a nice addition

-          4 Featurettes

-          Bringing the Characters of Appaloosa to Life- about the acting and adaptation from Robert B. Parker’s novel

-          Historic Accuracy of Appaloosa- focuses on the art department and all the elements that went into creating the world as accurately as possible

-          The Town of Appaloosa- about how the filmmakers constructed the physical town and all the elements that went into it

-          Dean Semler’s Return to the Western- brief feature about the award-winning cinematographer and his return to a beloved genre

Grade-

Harris and Mortensen- A

Film- B

Special Features- B