The Claim (2000)
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 84
Fresh: 52 | Rotten: 32
Though it sometimes feels cold and detached, The Claim is evocative, beautifully shot, and full of understated performances.
Average Rating: 6.1/10
Critic Reviews: 29
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 11
Though it sometimes feels cold and detached, The Claim is evocative, beautifully shot, and full of understated performances.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 3,407
Movie Info
One man's small empire threatens to collapse under the weight of his greed and deceit in this drama that transplants the story of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge to 19th century America. In 1867, Dillon (Peter Mullan) is an Irish immigrant who settled in California during the Gold Rush of '49 and has done quite well for himself. Dillon owns nearly every business of consequence in the town of Kingdom Come; if someone wants to dig for gold, rent a room, open a bank account, or even order
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Peter Mullan
Dillon -
Wes Bentley
Dalglish -
Milla Jovovich
Lucia -
Nastassja Kinski
Elena -
Sarah Polley
Hope -
Julian Richings
Bellinger -
Sean McGinley
Sweetley -
Duncan Fraser
Crocker
ADVERTISEMENT
The Claim Trailer & Photos
All Critics (94) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (52) | Rotten (32) | DVD (10)
The audience is simply left with the task of fitting together the allegory's easy pieces.
Top CriticEasily the most compelling Western to hit our screens since Unforgiven.
A mournful, poetic, epic movie that lodges in the memory.
Takes place against a frigid canvas gorgeously captured by Alwin Kuchler.
A fine film that holds you at arm's length.
A rich emotional experience, ranging in degree from fire to ice.
like a collegiate literature class in Thomas Hardy
Mature viewers only; kids won't be interested.
The emotions of the piece are as palpable as the neverending snowfall.
If the story was as crisp as the snow, and the plot advanced faster than a glacier, this might have been a better film.
While we wait, characters tromp through the snow a lot.
Broody and beautiful, The Claim is guaranteed to give you the chills.
One of the year's most visually stylistic films.
The Claim works best as an antitraditional Western epic that presents an allegorical drama of fate, retribution and redemption.
At the center are the impeccable performances of all five leads.
If you enjoy character studies, personalities over action, The Claim may be a sure bet.
The emotional possibilities pretty well freeze to death in the snowbound landscapes.
Invites comparison to the structural denseness and poetic leanings of Altman's all-time masterpiece McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
A haunting thinking-person's Western and a powerful reminder of the true price of greed.
With its elegance and brutality, The Claim perfectly captures that tenuous state when wildness is being tamed and much is lost in the process.
Feels even more remote than its location.
Winterbottom vividly captures a pioneer-era world of immigrants struggling to create new lives.
Audience Reviews for The Claim
Super Reviewer
Between this movie and another overlooked film, Ravenous, I seem to enjoy movies set in the Sierra Nevadas during the 1860s.
This movie takes place in said setting, and involves a town built on the finding of gold in the area, known as Kingdom Come. A town named Kingdom Come is very cool to me, I just feel I need to point that out.
This town is run by Mr. Dillon, a man who has some bad history involving those he arrived in the area with.
At the beginning of the film, a man (Wes Bentley) from the Railroad company arrives, looking at the town as a prospect for where the Railroad may come through. This will make or break the town. If it comes through, good for them. If it is set up somewhere nearby, a new town will be built and this one will decline.
Also entering the town is a woman sick with Tuberculosis, and her daughter (Sarah Polley) with histories of their own involving this area. These secrets are not secret for long in the film, but its better to describe it this way.
Also in town is a brothel, run by Mr. Dillon's mistress Lucia, played pretty well by Milla Jovovich, proving she doesn't always need to be in bad sci-fi action films.
These five main characters all interact in various way, forming a number of love triangles, and other obstacles they must face.
As interesting as the story is, this film is also very good visually and combined with a very good score, it makes this a very good film.
Lucia: No guns, there are no guns allowed in my town.
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for The Claim yet.
What's Hot On RT
Pictures from a zombie nation
Woody Allen in San Francisco
See the Desolation of Smaug trailer!
Where does This Is the End rank?
Fresh Links
Featured
Movie: ID: 16067 Title: The Claim Release Date: 2000-12-29 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
The Looks of Johnny Depp
To celebrate the star's birthday, BuzzSugar looks at the many faces of Johnny Depp.
10 Egregious Product Placements
Rolling Stone wonders if The Internship goes too far... then provides 10 examples of movies that did.
Horror Movie Mistakes
Moviefone offers up 8 of the most obvious glaring errors in popular fright flicks.
10 Bad Movies That Look Great
Sometimes even terrible movies can be beautiful; here are 10 of them, from HitFix.
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- Digital Multiplex: 21 & Over, Quartet, and More 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Jack the Giant Slayer and Quartet 20
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Man of Steel Sets June Record 101
- Weekly Ketchup: Man of Steel Sequel In the Works 182
- Five Favorite Films with Joss Whedon 124
- Bonus Footage of the Cast & Crew of Man of Steel 1
- Critics Consensus: Man of Steel Is Up, Up, and Okay 277
Top Headlines
