Looked ridiculous to me (some spoilers)

Rating: 3/10 (23 February 2008)

Misguided by this movie's high IMDb rating and an impressive cast, I made a mistake of spending $1.07 and two hours of my time watching it. About every plot twist was ridiculous. Seeing Ben Wade killing one guard after another going unpunished, a one-legged man running on the roofs like agents in "The Matrix", a bulletproof protagonist, a criminal risking his life desperately trying to get TO jail, several other characters' decisions contradicting common sense and yet presented in the movie as smart and 'strategic' - made me either laughing hysterically or nauseous. A movie like this would make a good "over-the-top" parody on westerns, similar to what Tarantino and Rodriguez did in "Kill Bill" and "Grindhouse" but I am afraid this wasn't the intention of the director; instead he was seriously and sincerely trying to make a typical western... and that is SO SAD! So unless you are a western junkie who doesn't care about holes in the plot or lack of common sense in characters' actions, avoid this movie at all costs. I think watching it made me dumber so please don't follow my example! On a brighter note: the soundtrack is good, and so are some performances. Ben Foster was very good... Christian Bale is good, too; Russell Crowe is, well, usual.