On another film forum I post on I've been making threads about movies I feel have been over looked either critically or at the box office (or both!). I've made four so far with an average of 1 a week or so. I thought some of you here might appreciate them. I thought I'd post all four I've made so far and then slowly follow them up in the coming weeks.
First off, why Open Range?
According to meta critic it received an average score of 67, certainly nothing stellar. Since Costner's Waterworld and The Postman he's been generally shit on for any type of film he's done forcing him to generally appear in relatively safe rom-coms (with emphasis on romance) or generic action flicks. I think that Open Range may be the last western that Costner ever acts in, let alone directs due to it's lukewarm reception. Open Range should also be easily accessible from Netflix and any movie store, plus it's not a new release so it should be cheap!
Kevin Costner fucking sucks.
You suck. Kevin Costner's awesome and was in Field of Dreams the one movie a guy can cry at and it actually makes him more of a man (and I don't even like baseball). I'll admit my experience with Costner is somewhat limited but I have enjoyed most of what I've seen. To be blunt Dances with Wolves is one of the best epics I have witnessed and I have seen a lot of epics. DWW has a superb story with tons of depth and was recently remade into James Cameron's Avatar ([spoiler]heyyyoooo[/spoiler]). Costner's performance in JFK relentless hunting for the truth was excellent and though the validity of a lot of the film's narrative has come into question I still find it an great film. I thought Wyatt Earp was more enjoyable than Tombstone and that his accent didn't fucking matter in Robinhood because Russian guys speak English too each other all the time in movies and people let that shit go. But anyway.
What's Open Range about?
(Lifted from Wikipedia's sperglords) "The background of the movie concerns the "range wars" that occurred in the American West in the late 1800s. The "wars" pitted those that believed in the "Law of the Open Range" - free access to water and grass for everyone, against the "barbed wire" men – land barons, who used the new fencing to define their empire and block the free-range cattlemen from moving their herds."
A Quick Summary
The movie stars Robert Duvall, as "Boss", and Kevin Costner, as Charley Waite, two "free-rangers" moving along the American west. They stop in land that "belongs" to Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon), an Irish land baron and a real prick. Their caravan is attacked, one of their members is killed (technically two as Baxter's heartless bastards shoot their dog too) and another is wounded. Boss and Charlie intend to defend their right to free graze and avenge their dead compatriots. There is also a romance subplot between Costner and Sue Barlow (Annette Bening) but it's not lame so don't worry.
I've heard it's slow and boring.
Open Range is slow moving. At it's core it is a drama and not an action film but it is not boring. Tension is present throughout the film from the caravan's first encounter with Baxter and his men. There aren't lots of shoot outs. However I can promise a climatic gun fight that is, in my opinion, one of the best in film (plus it opens with the best form of revenge possible). In fact I find the best way to describe as Michael Mann's Heat set in the Old West. It is that good.
How do you rank it doctor 7?
Currently it's in my top tier on Criticker.com with a score of 90/100. So no, I'm not shitting you when I say I think this is a great film.
Review
It gets a lot of hate apparently but I find the hate to be most undeserved. It's not quite as good as Dances with Wolves but it's still superb in it's own right. Robert Duvall, Annette Bening and Kevin Costner all give great performances. It starts off appropriately slow but the gunfight at the end is certainly one of the best in westerm movies I've ever seen. "You the one that killed our friend?" "That's right, shot the boy too and I enjoyed it." BLAM! Best way to start a gunfight.
In short, see this film. It was made in a relatively modest budget of $20 million so you don't have the beautiful sweeping shots like in Dances with Wolves but it's still a superb western.
Anyhow, let me know what you think if you give it a rewatch or if you already know how good it is.
