 "Photo: Courtesy of New Line Cinema")
Actor Ed Harris returns to the director’s chair for the first time since 2000’s “Pollack” with the new western “Appaloosa,” starring alongside Viggo Mortensen, Renée Zellweger and Jeremy Irons.
“Appaloosa” focuses on the partnership of cowboy peacekeepers-for-hire Everett Hitch (Mortensen) and Virgil Cole (Harris). When murderous rancher Randall Bragg (Irons) threatens the town of Appaloosa, its leading residents hire Hitch and Cole to reinstate law and order. However, the unexpectedly devious Bragg makes Hitch and Cole’s job harder than expected, while the arrival of the beautiful and unpredictable widow Ally French (Zellweger) threatens their friendship itself.
The main redeeming element of “Appaloosa” is the strong performances from Mortensen and Harris, particularly their excellent chemistry. The close working relationship between Hitch and Cole is key to “Appaloosa’s” plot, and Mortensen and Harris play that bond perfectly. Besides well-played verbal interaction, they indicate a longtime trust and mutual understanding in their subtle exchange of glances and other nonverbal cues.
Mortensen gives a particularly entertaining performance, although it is one we have seen from the actor many times before. Mortensen does a fine job of playing a soft-spoken hero with a dark sense of humor, but he’s played one too many such characters; it would be nice to see something different from this talented player.
“Appaloosa’s” chief flaw is its reliance on western film convention, with an overall effect that is sometimes simply unchallenging, sometimes irritatingly mediocre. Harris’ use of ambushes, shootouts and sweeping desert imagery are all relatively well-executed.
Unfortunately, all of the above have been done before, and more important, they have been done better. Jeff Beal’s score falls under the “irritatingly mediocre” category, punctuating the film with mostly standard musical cues that are often bizarrely mismatched to the action onscreen.
Zellweger and Irons turn in unremarkable performances; while Irons does the best with the material he’s given, Zellweger simply plays a rather shallow character that could have been more complex.
The film also suffers from a rather flawed script. Although the relationship between Cole and Hitch is well-written, this alone cannot carry the film. Bragg’s villainy is not built up enough to elevate his cat-and-mouse game with Cole and Hitch beyond eventual tedium.
Also, the French character does too much philandering to win the audience’s interest as a protagonist, which makes Cole’s unshakable faith in her seem rather ludicrous in the process.
Despite a pair of winning lead performances, “Appaloosa” is just another western, and not a particularly outstanding one. Harris has proven his directorial ambition before with the critically acclaimed biopic “Pollock;” he might do well to challenge himself a bit again the next time he steps up to the director’s chair.
Grade: C-
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