Open Range
I have very mixed feelings about this film. On the one hand, Kevin Costner is a terrible actor. Well, perhaps that's not fair. He has done some good sports movies, and both of his previous westerns (Silverado and Dances With Wolves) were good movies. But he was pretty bad in this one. On the other hand, Kevin Costner as a director has a very good sense of epic landscape, which is crucial for a good western. The main problem with Open Range, though, was the script. The dialogue felt really forced. Robert Duvall is a terrific actor, but he just wasn't given anything to work with. Also, the movie differed in many key ways from a typical western (**SPOILERS HERE**): the heroes are freegrazing cattlemen, rather than farmers; the gunfighter finds that he can change and is brought into polite society; the good guy draws first in the climactic shootout, which is uncomfortably brutal. It was a very slow movie. Still, it had its moments, and I don't feel like it was a waste of money.
Viewed: 8/28/2003 | Released: 8/10/2003 | Score: C