Written by Andrew Oxenham
As I assumed my seat in a theater filled with expectant moviegoers, I recalled the movie I was about to watch, “Appaloosa,” a modern-day Western thriller written, directed and produced by Ed Harris (who also stars as the main character). I pulled my thoughts back to the present moment and glanced up at the screen, but instead of seeing the opening scene, I saw the “please silence your cell phones” message frozen on the screen.
Slowly, the quiet theater began to build to a crescendo of creaking chairs, low hushed mumbling and rustling of shifting people. As the movie reel began to roll, the din subsided into a silence of anticipation.
Unfortunately, as the film wrapped up, the din remained over the crowd, for “Appaloosa,” delivered nothing but an unfulfilled feeling at the end of an almost two-hour trek across the deserts of Ed Harris’ imagination.
In a recent interview about “Appaloosa,” co-star Viggo Mortensen stated that he studied Frederic Remington drawings to get into his character and master the proper way to stand during a gunfight. Unfortunately, the garb and stance are the only ways in which “Appaloosa” mirrors the beauty of the old West found in Remington’s paintings.
Set in the 1880s, Ed Harris stars as Virgil Cole and Viggo Mortensen as Everett Hitch, two best friend lawmen for hire who find their way into the city of Appaloosa. Timid townspeople hurriedly approach them with a simple request of protection from the movie’s antagonist, lawless rancher Randall Bragg, played by Jeremy Irons.
The scenery (mostly shot in New Mexico) is beautiful, and the costumes resonate well with the average American who likes his cowboy draped in Western-style trench coats and blazers. The on-screen chemistry between the longtime friends, Cole and Hitch, is well done, the dialogue is engaging and downright hilarious sometimes, however, the addition of the other characters seems like an afterthought.
Zellweger flops as a widowed love interest for Cole; her character is not played out nor is it explored even during the scene in which Cole and Everett discuss her. The same holds true for the plot line, which is neither played out nor developed beyond a few little conflicts and resolutions.
Overall, Harris does a fine job, Mortensen even better. The movie, rated R for some violence and language, is entertaining, however not memorable or intriguing. With the legacy of such remakes as “3:10 to Yuma” behind it, “Appaloosa” falls short of great and lands neatly on the pile of “movies to rent later.”
