Movie Review: Appaloosa

Appaloosa

Directed By: Ed Harris

Written By: Robert Knott and Ed Harris

Starring: Ed Harris, Viggo Mortenson, Jeremy Irons, and Renee Zellweger

Director of Photography: Dean Semler, Editor: Kathryn Himoff, Production Designer: Waldemar Kalinowski, Original Music: Jeff Beal

Rated: R for some violence and language

    The Western returns once again, now in the hands of actor, co-writer, and director Ed Harris. His second feature film, after the often insightful Pollock, couldn’t be more different.  Appaloosa is both a revisionist and non-revisionist Western. There is a sense of parody and winking for the camera, but it is often too uneven for it to truly break genre tradition. If anything, the film could be most marked as Tombstone by way of Rio Bravo. It is a bit cheesy, intentional as it may be, but there are some genuine moments, usually brought to life by Harris’ co-star Viggo Mortenson.

    Mr. Mortenson has always been in a sense, playing archetypes of John Wayne. His two roles in the films of David Cronenberg forced him to both draw us in, while remaining reclusive in away from others. As the right hand man to Harris’ Virgil Cole, a hardened law man with no real reason to fight except nature forces him to, Mortenson once again brings the kind of deep, provoking performance. With his large shotgun, he’s quiet and menacing, somewhat similar to his Russian mobster of Eastern Promises. What comes unexpected though is the fun he brings with it. There are many comedic moments in Appaloosa, and most of them involve the sly and witty delivery of Mortenson’s dialogue.

    The comedy is also what brings this film a little down. It is almost too much parody and too much winking. Harris wants to break down the Western, and has a few great moments that accomplish that. But when his plot refuses to move, the film crashes when it tries to be smart. Even his casting of Jeremy Irons as the menacing Randall Bragg feels like a little too self-conscious. Mr. Irons does little to hide his accent and plays Bragg just exaggerated enough for us to notice.

    Of course the killer of any Western is the woman, here modified by Renee Zellweger. When she walks on to the set, Ms. Zellweger looks like she could actually fill the shoes of a Cathy Downs or Angie Dickinson, but it soon comes apparent that her character isn’t exactly similar. If Appaloosa does one thing to break the Western down, its that Ms. Zellweger’s Allison brings an overt sexuality missing from other Westerns. It comes as a gift and a curse; the straining comes more as misplaced than inspired.

    By the end of the film, which slowly crashes in an awkward epilogue like fashion, Appaloosa hasn’t changed the rules of the Western. It isn’t The Assassination of Jesse James, but maybe more on the level of James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma remake. Mr. Mortenson is the obvious appeal here—he commands the film through his silence in a great fashion. For Mr. Harris though, the West isn’t won as much as it has no stakes to be gambled.