Appaloosa: Movie Review (2008)

Directed by Ed Harris, written by Robert Knott and Harris, 115 minutes, rated R.

The new Ed Harris movie, “Appaloosa,” is being billed as a Western, which it is, but mostly, it’s a movie about the friendship between two men, which in this case helps it to transcend the genre and deepen the movie’s appeal.

Robert Knott and Harris based their script on Robert B. Parker’s novel, and what they have created is a film that says more in its long stretches of silence than most movies say with a motherlode of dialogue.

How they pull this off comes down to the cast, with Harris and his co-star, a pitch-perfect Viggo Mortensen, creating a bond onscreen that resonates in a critical way--their chemistry generates the sort of interest that holds the film together during those stretches when it isn’t as action-driven as you might have hoped.

In fact, “Appaloosa” isn’t really driven by action at all. It’s driven by its characters and its subtle comedic undertone. Peppered with sidelong glances, the occasional shootout and double-cross, the movie places its importance on loyalties, the undoing of a villain armed with vicious connections, and how one woman, fighting to make it in the Old West, complicates the proceedings in an effort to survive.

In the movie, Harris is Virgil Cole, Appaloosa’s marshal-for-hire, who along with his best friend and second hand, Everett Hitch (Mortensen), is trying to bring one man to justice. That would be Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons), who has been charged with murder and is about to be hanged for the crime. Bragg, a striking man who has the gift of eloquence, is having none of it. He does, after all, have power, money and the sort of friends who can intervene on his behalf--for a price.

As the above story unfolds, another ties a noose around it--Cole must deal with his affections for Allison French (Renee Zellweger), a widow of questionable intent who “chews her food good,” looks pretty when she pinches her cheeks and does up her hair, and who can be a knockout in the right dress. Although Cole knows Allison is a drifter willing to fall into any man’s arms if it means keeping a roof over her head, he nevertheless becomes smitten with her, which becomes a cornerstone for the story as its more satisfying second half takes root.

Zellweger is the film’s weakest link--she has difficulty losing herself in the role. To be fair to her, the script doesn’t offer her many opportunities to do so. It’s a shallow part, slightly written, with the actress left stranded amid material that would rather focus on the dynamics between Cole and Hitch.

To that end, the movie is solid--it rides on a backbone of cliches, occasionally kicks them up and makes the genre its own. Harris is excellent, nicely recalling elements of Clint Eastwood at his coolest, but he also generously steps aside and allows Mortensen to reveal just how good he can be, which is pretty terrific, as fans of “Eastern Promises,” “The Lord of the Rings” movies and “A History of Violence” will attest.

Grade: B