The tombstone had yet to be carved, but for some time, it seemed as though the classic film genre known as the western, had died.
We’d sporadically get a good one here and there, (like Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven) but as a whole, quality westerns just weren’t happening.
This decade, we find ourselves getting a slow but steady stream of very good western films, among them 2005’s The Proposition, last year’s 3:10 to Yuma, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Now, actor-turned-director Ed Harris follows up his biopic Pollock with the western Appaloosa.
Appaloosa is probably the closest of this mini-new wave of westerns to a classic western from the 50’s or 60’s and is based on the 2005 novel by Robert B. Parker. The town of Appaloosa hires Virgil Cole (Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) to protect them from the outlaw Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons). Cole and Hitch are inseparable as partners in crime-prevention until Renée Zellweger’s Allie French shows up in town. It should be fairly implicit that one falls in love with her, and it prevents him from doing his duty to the fullest extent.
Appaloosa has serious structural and pacing flaws. It becomes episodic and slow, with very little momentum or sense of direction. There are a bunch of minor story lines smushed together in a way that makes it unclear which one an individual scene belongs to. Despite dragging along at spots, it still feels only half-developed.The film does have its moments, and more often than not they’re comedic ones: witty back-and-forth between Harris and Mortensen. You can’t help but wonder if maybe this would have been better as a dramatic comedy, instead of the seemingly self-described lethargic drama the film currently is.
Appaloosa is filled with shallow characterizations standing in for characters. Just like the film itself, the individual characters seem to have very little motivation, or at least motivations that are hurriedly played out. I’ve never seen two characters fall in love so fast outside of a Lifetime movie and Harris and Mortensen, two excellent actors, certainly look the part, but are limited by their characters. And Renée Zellweger is a plot device in every sense of the word, and her performance leaves a lot to be desired.
Like most directors with little or no experience, Harris fails to bring anything outstanding to the table in terms of direction. However, as is sometimes the case, an inexperienced director composes some shots- maybe accidentally- that are fresh and unique, and you do get this a couple times. The cinematography is mostly bland, not dynamic or intense like the posters for the film have suggested. The score is very commendable, but sometimes seems unnecessarily familiar.
While I wouldn’t call the film a step back for the genre, it’s certainly not a step forward. Appaloosa falls safely into the conventions of the traditional "western" genre and as a result oozes mediocrity.
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