Ed Harris isn’t a brilliant director by any stretch of the imagination but he is a reliable one. Not surprisingly, his film (as was his previous work Pollack) is very strong on the performances. He knows how to draw good work out of his fellow cast members. This is an obvious benefit from his expertise in acting. He is also very smart in his casting choices. In this case he matched Viggo Mortensen (who I don’t think is capable of giving a poor performance), Renée Zellweger and Jeremy Irons with roles that play to their talents. The script by Robert Knott and Ed Harris (a first writing credit for both actors) is based on the novel by Robert B. Parker. It is clear the two men were cautious to give the story room to develop and their actors plenty of material to handle. While the performances are fantastic, the script is the foundation for the successes in the production.

The story centers around a couple of guns for hire who are brought in to police a small Western town. The men Virgil Cole (Harris) and Everett (Mortensen) are opposites that complement one another. Virgil is a stony eyed, simple minded law man. Everett is a laid back, literate man. The partners are confronted by two serious issues in their new town. First is Randall Bragg (Irons), a murderous rancher. The other is piano player Allison (Zellweger) who starts a rocky relationship with Virgil. The conflicts and tension between the characters is patiently built mostly through character development instead of cheap plot devices. While there are some dry moments, the film overall avoids falling into being a chat fest. Harris walks a delicate tightrope between being too heavy on the dialog and just being another gunfight Western. The fact that he avoids these traps is made even more impressive when one realizes that the film also avoids almost all Western cliche in the process. Even if you don’t like the film, you have to give credit that this was not lazily made. If nothing else, Harris is a very deliberate film maker and obviously works hard to get his results.




Related Reviews:
Ed Harris movies
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Gone Baby Gone (2007)


Other Critic’s Reviews:
Ill-Informed Gadfly
Christianity Today

Labels: Ed Harris, film, Jeremy Irons, movie review, Renee Zellweger, Viggo Mortensen, western