Appaloosa 6.5

Another director, Ed Harris this time, is enticed by the beauty of the Old West, this time New Mexico, to make a post-modern Western, with noble Indians in a cameo role. Unfortunately, in mining a past genre, the filmmakers have come up with nary a novel plotline or character. Viggo Mortenson is exemplary, Jeremy Irons extraordinary, Renee Zellweger an unattractive puzzle, and Harris dons the taciturn gunslinger role so many others have done so much better (see, e.g., Eastwood, Clint). He also mouths the movie’s ad tagline – “Feelings can get you killed” – which is at best ironic coming from a besotted cuckold.