An entertaining film that is among the best of its genre

Rating: 9/10 (13 June 2009)

This is an example of a very good modern western and adventure story. There was one scene that was a bit hard to watch for me as far as blood and open wounds, but this was a highly enjoyable movie. Superbly acted, directed well, and its story was engaging, with nice subplots. Its not extraordinarily original, but doesn't need to be, for what it is, one of the best films of its kind. I liked it more than Tombstone or Unforgiven, which were two of my favorite of the newer western films i had seen. I thought Russell crowe shined as the antagonist, while Christian Bale did a pretty good job as well. Its shot and edited very well and has a very suitable score from Marco Beltrami. Its not a film i would watch over and over, but i enjoyed it a lot the first time around. Ben Foster Peter Fonda and Gretchen Mol were great in supporting roles while Logan Lerman wasn't bad as Bale's character's son either, decent job for a young actor. I think for what it is, this film is good, real good, don't expect the most realistic action sequences, though, as that is not exactly the case with the shootouts, but then again, its still a bit more realistic than most films of its kind, thus i rate it highly. My Rating: 9/10. #302 on my list of all time favorite Movies.