great music by Marco Beltrami, and Bales and Crowe are as cool as ice

Rating: 7/10 (8 September 2007)

Funny how the elements of this western, a quintessentially North American genre, that really stood out to me--the composer's score, and the leads' acting--were supplied by foreigners. Another foreigner was responsible for the excellent cinematography.
While funny, it's not surprising given the rich Italian spaghetti western tradition (Beltrami's score definitely has some of its flavor) and the rugged geography, and perhaps personalities, of much of Wales and Australia (where Bales and Crowe, respectively, hail from). And pretty much all European cinematographers have great eyes for sweeping landscapes and sensual lighting.
The movie overall was very good, never boring, but never quite splendid in either emotion or action. There is something frustrating about watching characters risk life and limb to escort a cold-blooded killer to some far-off train station just so he can get shuttled off to some kangaroo court to be sentenced to death, when they could (and should) just shoot him in the head immediately and save themselves inordinate trouble and expense. But the characters have to learn valuable life lessons, of course, and that takes time and effort and unimaginable sacrifice. At least their suffering was entertaining, thanks to the aforementioned elements. But whenever a plot feels somewhat unnecessary, as this one did, it's hard to feel true sympathy for the plight of its characters, and that's why the movie seemed to fall short of its ambitions as a tale of morality and redemption.