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Reviews Counted:152
Fresh:116
Rotten:36
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: A traditional genre western, Appaloosa sets itself apart with smart psychology, an intriguing love triangle, and good chemistry between the leads.
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Genre: Westerns
Theatrical Release:Sep 19, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $20,157,730
Synopsis: Actor Ed Harris takes only his second stab at directing, following the Oscar-winning feature POLLOCK (2000) with this spirited western. Harris draws on a strong cast, many of whom have acted with... [More]
Starring: Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renée Zellweger, Jeremy Irons
Director: Ed Harris
A classics-steeped western that rams home tradition over reinvention, Appaloosa kicks it hard as a buddy pic on horseback. Harris and Mortensen’s study in laid-back companionship is the principal pleasure, leaving Zellweger mired in role that does her and
As comfortable as an old saddle and as sharp as an Apache arrow, this a Western for the modern era.
A pity that Harris's homage to westerns should be compromised so intrusively. For most of its length, in terms of its themes, pacing and visual sweep, it's a treat.
Photographed handsomely with wide-angled majesty, the film does precious little myth-making, though Harris subtly twists some of the genre's conventions.
This is no revisionist western designed to shock life into an unfashionable genre, rather a film that respects the conventions of the traditional western.
A western that moseys along in amiable style, largely thanks to the chemistry between Harris and Mortensen.
These are horse-opera fundamentals; having given them short shrift, the film just shuffles down its lonesome trail into the horizon and out of your memory.
Squinting Zellweger ruins it. I liked the hats.
In another era, Harris -- and Mortensen, for that matter -- would have already starred in several westerns. Harris should do more of them; only next time, much less carefully.
Can Ed Harris, of all people, save the Western for this generation?
Where the film lets you down is in the boundaries of the dramatic map which needs a more dynamic (and cinematic) driving force.
The various symbols never coalesce into metaphor so much as they stand stagnant and hollow at the edges of the frame.
In all, Appaloosa is good as far as it goes -- everything in it feels true -- but I wish that Harris had pushed his ideas further.
Top CriticAppaloosa is entertaining, certainly, but it feels rather slight and feeble next to some of its more superior recent cohorts in the western genre.
Harris and Mortensen are out to get Irons, and their plan appears to be to talk him to death. It took a lot of stretching to get this to last for two hours.
A smart and funny script, highly entertaining from the first draw, Appaloosa is a taut, captivating tale of the old West with enough bite and modern edge to draw in both fans and non-devotees of the cowboy genre.
Jeremy Irons is miscast as the film's politically driven baddie, but the easy rapport between Harris and Mortensen more than compensates for the minor misstep.
The parts of it that work, work very well... so much so in fact that the parts which don't simply can't keep up.
Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen have mastered the art of subtle communication, amplifying the believability of their relationship in this ruggedly male bonding tale.
Appaloosa has a solid enough opening, and it should be fun just to watch things play out, what with the shootouts, the trains, the swagger at gunpoint. But the script (co-written by Harris) is alternately dumb and lifeless.
April 18, 2009:
Crackling eccentric verbal wit as Harris' marshal seeks to 'button up this town tighter than a nun's corset' while overcome by Zellweger's irresistible flirty charms, because she 'chews her food nicely and even takes a bath before going to bed. 
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January 13, 2009:
Crackling eccentric verbal wit as Harris' marshal seeks to 'button up this town tighter than a nun's corset' while overcome by Zellweger's irresistible flirty charms, because she 'chews her food nicely and even takes a bath before going to bed.
More...
January 10, 2009:
Crackling eccentric verbal wit as Harris' marshal seeks to 'button up this town tighter than a nun's corset' while overcome by Zellweger's irresistible flirty charms, because she 'chews her food nicely and even takes a bath before going to bed.
More...
October 02, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Chihuahua to Overtake Multiplexes
Hollywood kicks off the fourth quarter with a stampede of new releases that will test the elasticity of the marketplace. Ambulances are already on standby to rush the high... More...
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