Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
Is love worth dying over?
MovieAddict - wrote on 12/26/2012
Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) are both peacekeepers who have been upholding the law for the past dozen years. Killing outlaws is their job, and they travel on to find more scum to kill. They come to a town called Appaloosa which is terrorized by a gang of thugs led by a cretin by the name of Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons). The gang buys food without paying, mess up bars, etc... but nobody dares to stand up against them. Harris and Mortensen are hired by a couple of businessmen in town to liberate the city of this blight.
Enter the Allison "Alley" French, a widow seeking comfort in the form of a new husband. Later we find out that her character will pretty much bed down with the nearest alpha-male no matter who he is. She plays the piano, chews her food …
Rating of
3/4
"Appaloosa" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/30/2012
Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen play a pair of lawmen for hire who are engaged to clean up the frontier town of Appaloosa which is being terrorized by a gang headed up by big city dandy Jeremy Irons. Appaloosa is a western very much from the old school, far more character driven than most of the post Peckinpah/Leone generation and as such felt like a throwback to the days of Anthony Mann and his ilk. It concentrates far more on drama than gunplay which obviously requires quality performances, a task more than ably handled by an excellent ensemble cast. Harris and Mortensen in particular show great chemistry and every scene they share together is eminently watchable. This makes the gaping flaw in the film all the more obvious; namely Renee Zellwegger's painfully clumsy, pudding faced …
Rating of
1/4
SLLLOOOWWW
M - wrote on 02/27/2009
Well lets just start of with the words "HOLY SLOW".... I never been a big fan of westerns, but decided that I should give it a try after a recommendation from a "friend" or a person who was my friend untill he made that recomedation. So yeah it takes place in the desert in the town called ...,you will never guess, "Appaloosa" where the great duo takes on the gang of bad guys to save the town. There is a chick that come to town and she turns out to be whore.... and a waste of time. But somehow manages to stick around thru the whole movie. The movie has few shooting scenes, but it definetly lags in that department. It would earned at least another half star from me if they would have added 3 or 4 more shooting scenes. There are horses in this movie if you are intrested as well as bad …
Rating of
1/4
Felt Empty
Franz Patrick - wrote on 12/30/2008
Western is my least favorite genre so I’m probably not the best person to listen to when it comes to reviewing a western film. I’m most familiar with modern westerns like “Brokeback Mountain,” “No Country for Old Men,” and “There Will Be Blood.” However, I know how to ascertain and elucidate why I like or dislike a movie. “Appaloosa” did not work for me for two main reasons: it lacked focus to be thoroughly engaging and it did not have enough material to tell an insightful story. While Ed Harris (who also wrote and directed the film) and Viggo Mortensen did a good job in their respective roles, I felt like their relationship wasn’t explored enough. Were they merely friends or are they more like brothers? Although the tone of the film is masculine, most great …
Rating of
3/4
A solid western from Ed Harris.
Movies - wrote on 11/30/2008
In recent years filmmakers have been, for whatever reason, straying away from the western genre. Last year we saw the riveting remake of 3:10 to Yuma and the character study Jesse James come to the big screen in top caliber fashion. I've been highly anticipating Ed Harris' take on the western genre ever since I saw the trailers months ago. Appaloosa is not a film that changes the western genre like 3:10 to Yuma, or as fast paced and explosive as the James Mangold film. However, it's an excellent tale between two comrades with sturdy moral codes that's shaken up by the irritating and mysterious arrival of a widow
Ed Harris stars, directs, produces, and co-writes Appaloosa, based on the Robert B. Parker novel of the same name. Harris plays Virgil Cole, an interesting, hard-nosed …
