Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
64
(32 sources)
64
(32 sources)
-
88
Rolling Stone
Appaloosa is gripping entertainment that keeps springing surprises. Read Full Review » -
88
-
83
Portland Oregonian
If you're an actual adult who likes old-school Westerns, this won't disappoint you. Read Full Review » -
80
Film Threat
The romantic subplot dovetails wonderfully with Harris' tribute to the genre's golden age. The moral quest of taming the West always thrived if a lady could be won in tandem. Read Full Review » -
80
The Hollywood Reporter
A fine dramatic comedy with fresh characters, witty dialogue and a keen interest in how relationships must have developed among frontier folks, tyrannical ranchers, no-nonsense lawmen and -- oh, yes -- the complicated women on that frontier. Read Full Review » -
75
New York Post
Beautifully photographed by Dean Semler, Appaloosa is the best Western since "Open Range" and shows there's still life in this most unfashionable of genres. Read Full Review » -
75
Miami Herald
It turns out to be a satisfying, if occasionally wandering, adventure. Read Full Review » -
75
Boston Globe
A warmly made, slightly offbeat movie about friendly devotion. It also happens to be a western, and every man in it is grizzled or wizened or both. Read Full Review » -
75
Chicago Sun-Times
What makes the movie absorbing is the way it harmonizes all the character strands and traits and weaves them into something more engaging than a mere 1-2-3 plot. I felt like I did in "Lonesome Dove" -- that there was a chair for me on the porch. Read Full Review » -
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
First and last, Appaloosa is the slow-but-sure story of the friendship between Virgil and Everett, one a man of action surprised by emotion, the other a man of emotion surprised by action. Read Full Review » -
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
An old-fashioned Western with all the classic elements -- buddy loyalty, stalwart heroes, despicable villains, plenty of gunfights and marvelous wind-scoured desert landscapes -- marked by some modern ideas about relationships. Read Full Review » -
75
ReelViews
Westerns often take themselves seriously and, while Appaloosa is no "Blazing Saddles," there's a refreshing vein of understated humor running throughout the production. Read Full Review » -
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Most of the time, the movie is appropriately gritty and plenty engaging. Read Full Review » -
70
Chicago Reader
This isn't a visionary western like "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" (2005), but in its own quiet way it delivers the goods. Read Full Review » -
70
Washington Post
Harris and Mortensen may not have the combined star power to push Appaloosa to the level of popularity of last year's "3:10," but the film is every bit as enjoyable, and, for traditionalists, more measured. Read Full Review » -
70
Time
It's good to spend time with a movie that takes its time. Granted, Harris doesn't advance the genre; instead he burrows into it, finds a home there, as one might retreat to musty library stacks, where old pleasures and treasures await. Read Full Review » -
70
The New Yorker
In all, Appaloosa is good as far as it goes--everything in it feels true--but I wish that Harris had pushed his ideas further. Read Full Review » -
70
Village Voice
Harris and his collaborators are playing it straight with a timeless male fantasy--horse, hat, six-shooter--a traditional approach that will please moviegoers like my dad and yours. Read Full Review » -
67
The Onion (A.V. Club)
As with many other mediocre actor-directors, Harris' attention to the performances, including his own fine turn, has cost him in other areas. Read Full Review » -
67
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67
Austin Chronicle
We've heard tell about the rebirth of the Western at least since Clint Eastwood's vicious, "Unforgiven" 16 years ago, but since the genre never truly died in the first place there's no need to flog that horse here. Read Full Review » -
67
Christian Science Monitor
As director, Harris takes this classical sense of the western too far, though, until it seems that the movie is carefully trying to keep the genre alive. Read Full Review » -
63
USA Today
Harris is a major asset in a film that is entertaining but somewhat unfocused and occasionally badly cast. Read Full Review » -
63
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63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Appaloosa wobbles and wanders, promising to take a fresh look at those old myths, only to lapse back into weary convention. Read Full Review » -
60
New York Daily News
Though the leads do fine work, their efforts often feel slightly futile. Despite a few flashes of the darker tone percolating under the surface, the movie remains too well-mannered to truly pull us in. Read Full Review » -
60
The New York Times
The movie's tolerant, good-humored view of its characters drains it of some dramatic intensity, but Mr. Harris seems more interested in piquant, offhand moments than in big, straining confrontations. Read Full Review » -
60
Los Angeles Times
The two men collaborate so well, in fact, that the real love match of Appaloosa is between the two of them and no one else. Read Full Review » -
50
Salon.com
If Appaloosa is something to look at, it's also unnecessarily lethargic. Even an intentionally slow-paced picture needs to have its own internal source of energy, and as a filmmaker, Harris can't quite get that motor running. Read Full Review » -
50
Variety
Harris' first directorial outing since his impressive and entirely different "Pollock" biopic bears echoes of many genre predecessors, especially Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo" -- but echoes they remain. Read Full Review » -
40
-
25
TV Guide
Played for Maverick-like comedy, the film might have coasted on Harris and Mortensen's dialogue. But played straight it's both dull and preposterous. Read Full Review »
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