Mini-Review: Appaloosa

Appaloosa
Directed by Ed Harris
Released September 19, 2008

There’s a certain risk involved with westerns where setting a movie in the middle of nowhere may leave it completely alone and abandoned with no hope of ever becoming interesting. This is most definitely the case here. It’s an uninventive story that blatantly rips off the plot of “Unforgiven” in a far less creative manner. Ed Harris is a powerhouse actor, to be sure, but in this case he’s merely an old grump who can’t muster up enough enthusiasm for his own film. Viggo Mortensen, recently impressive in “Eastern Promises,” serves as a sidekick law defender to Harris’ sheriff-for-hire and matches Harris’ lack of excitement about everything. The superb but underused Jeremy Irons is a force to be reckoned with and his performance is pretty good, reminiscent of Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood,” but I wish he had been given more to do. The recently rather absent Renee Zellweger adds nothing to the movie. The characters are altogether uninteresting and the story takes an unfortunate turn for the unexpected and undesired far too soon. It’s a small movie that went under the radar and probably should have stayed there.

D