awful

Rating: 5/10 (9 January 2008)

I was worried when I heard the promo that said 'best western since "The Unforgiven," a Clint Eastwood soul searcher. This is a modern western that seems to go nowhere. It is difficult if not impossible to have any empathy for the 'hero', Bale. He is naive, inept, has no apparent skills and should have been killed off early in the movie. His character brings nothing to the table. In every confrontation he is in, he loses. He is not credible as the protagonist.
Russel Crowe is credible as the "bad guy' but only inasmuch as he kills with ease. There is no reason given as to why Crowe lets Bale live on the several occasions that he has to dispose of him and get away. Ironically, you begin to like Crowe's character more than Bale's. At the end of the movie Crowe is actually cooperating with Bale for some unknown reason. When Crowe leaps onto the train that is to take him to jail, Bale stands there with his back to the gang and they kill him, big surprise to no one!! Crowe gets off the train, kills all of his gang members who just saved him and gets back on the train and heads off to jail. Absolutely laughable!! Waste of money if you are looking for a western in the true sense.