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Average User Score: 7 (16 sources)

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pinetree99

-1

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Considering the leads (Ed and Viggo), I had decent hopes for this, but it was a sore disappointment. Unbelievably shoddy writing and directing, lame and predictable dialogue, even the cinematography blew. Hard to believe a western this vapid could...
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Considering the leads (Ed and Viggo), I had decent hopes for this, but it was a sore disappointment. Unbelievably shoddy writing and directing, lame and predictable dialogue, even the cinematography blew. Hard to believe a western this vapid could get conceived--and greenlit--in our post-Deadwood world.

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Posted aug 15, 2009 2:52 pm pt

Fwirrel

-1

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Appaloosa was a bit of a let down for me. I guess I was just expecting more. The characters were great, but the story wasn't done very well. The movie went too slow and the action scenes weren't very good. Jeremy Irons, Ed Harris, and Viggo...
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Appaloosa was a bit of a let down for me. I guess I was just expecting more. The characters were great, but the story wasn't done very well. The movie went too slow and the action scenes weren't very good. Jeremy Irons, Ed Harris, and Viggo Mortenson all give great performances. This movie is worth watching, but not over and over.

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Posted oct 19, 2008 6:52 am pt

kor3y_g

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A fresh new film to add to the western genre and nothing more.

Appaloosa isn't a bad film; it’s just not great and doesn't excite the viewer as much as expected. The plot is very predictable even though it is based on the...
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A fresh new film to add to the western genre and nothing more.

Appaloosa isn't a bad film; it’s just not great and doesn't excite the viewer as much as expected. The plot is very predictable even though it is based on the book: Sheriff takes over, finds a girl, girl gets kidnapped, all go on a mass hunt for girl. Nothing really surprised me.
I did like however, the performance of Viggo Mortenson who plays the deputy, Everett. I thought he acted consistently well throughout.
I do recommend this film to the western fans simply because westerns are rare these days. But for those of you looking for an all-out action film, stay clear.
It's kind of a romance and western entwined in that Alison, played by Renée Zellweger, is this promiscuous and unfaithful figure involved with the sheriff.

Overall there are some ups and some downs. An average film.

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Posted sep 27, 2008 5:40 am pt

• [+] Rolling Stone
  
  88
  Appaloosa is gripping entertainment that keeps springing surprises.

  by Peter Travers | Read Full Review »
• [+] Baltimore Sun
  
  88
  Goes down like a single-malt aged for 25 years.

  by Michael Sragow | Read Full Review »
• [+] Portland Oregonian
  
  83
  If you're an actual adult who likes old-school Westerns, this won't disappoint you.

  by M. E. Russell | Read Full Review »
• [+] Film Threat
  
  80
  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.

  by Matthew Sorrento | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Hollywood Reporter
  
  80
  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.

  by Kirk Honeycutt | Read Full Review »
• [+] New York Post
  
  75
  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.

  by Lou Lumenick | Read Full Review »
• [+] Miami Herald
  
  75
  It turns out to be a satisfying, if occasionally wandering, adventure.

  by Connie Ogle | Read Full Review »
• [+] Boston Globe
  
  75
  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.

  by Wesley Morris | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  75
  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.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] Philadelphia Inquirer
  
  75
  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.

  by Carrie Rickey | Read Full Review »
• [+] Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  
  75
  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.

  by Sean Axmaker | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  75
  Westerns often take themselves seriously and, while Appaloosa is no "Blazing Saddles," there's a refreshing vein of understated humor running throughout the production.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Chronicle
  
  75
  Most of the time, the movie is appropriately gritty and plenty engaging.

  by Peter Hartlaub | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Reader
  
  70
  This isn't a visionary western like "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" (2005), but in its own quiet way it delivers the goods.

  by Jonathan Rosenbaum | Read Full Review »
• [+] Washington Post
  
  70
  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.

  by Mike Mayo | Read Full Review »