MOVIE REVIEW - Appaloosa

Ed Harris, Viggo Mortenson, Renee Zellweger, and Jeremy Irons star in the new enigmatic western, Appaloosa in theaters this week. Appaloosa is the latest western to continue the trend that began in Hollywood in the 1990's.

The trend in westerns has been to tell a more accurate story of the 19th century west. The trend has shifted away from the "black hats/white hats" good guy /bad guy westerns. Truth is many times in the Old West, the line between the two was very blurred, and politics in these small, lawless towns was the equal of the politics of today. Unforgiven (1992), Tombstone (1993) Wyatt Earp (1994) successfully portrayed the fact that the west was a lawless land. And many times the people sent into clean up the small, drunken towns were not much better than the men making it dirty in the first place. That is Appaloosa!

Virgil Cole (Harris) and Everett Hitch (Mortenson) are professional "peacekeepers." They are hired by the new town Appaloosa, New Mexico in 1882, to weed out the criminal element after the towns Marshall was gunned down in cold blood while doing his duty. They are granted absolute power, and proceed to the clean up. Toss in a love interest, the promiscuous Mrs. French, (Zellweger), and the love triangle is now on as well.

Appaloosa is NOT your typical western. Some may feel it is short on action, and it is. Truth be told though, the average old west gunfight only lasted a second or two as history has taught us, not the 5 minute depiction of old Hollywood. They were quick, bloody, and there were consequences as well. Characters in Appaloosa are well developed, and it turns into a "thinking mans" western. Appaloosa may let down some action-starved fans, but it certainly isn't short on story.

Whether you will enjoy Appaloosa all depends on why you go to the movies in the first place. This western I feel has kept women more in mind than westerns of the past. The violence is quick and rather tame, and there is far more emphasis on substance here than sizzle. Performances strong, storyline strong as well.

Appaloosa. Not fantastic, but it's always nice to see actors doing roles they've not done before. Harris and company are all outside of their comfort zone and all deliver. I enjoyed it. but I warn you, it's not the actiony western of old. But the more substantive western modern day movie making.