excellently done

Rating: 5/10 (26 January 2008)

This was what you call an excellently done movie. First, it is a Western, and a remake of the classic Heflin film, though not the best script. What is so astonishing is how true to the original this movie is made. It does pay homage to it, and much of it is word for word, while at the same time, punctuating itself with it's own soul.
Perhaps the main weakness is that this version is much more "Hollywood", with the over the top unkillable perfect evil machines, and the total contrivance of a "Natural power order among humans". This part is, I admit, way too Hollywood.
In the original, Heflin, one of the greatest Western actors of all time (Shane, Gunman's Walk, Stagecoach), dominated the movie with a superior performance. But lets be honest, he also had the help of excellent writing for his character. The remake alters his character somewhat, from a simple man of the era, trying to make ends meet, and retaining his dignity; into a simple man more in tune with our era. The character isn't as well written, but Bale knew he was following in gigantic footsteps, and his performance is outstanding, going above the written word so to speak. The other chief character, the charming, but deadly outlaw, was revolutionary in the time of the original, and may have been better done in other movies (Robert Ryan in "The Naked Spur" and Barry Sullivan in "7 Ways to Sundown.) It became a trademark of the classic Western era, but still in the experimental stage. Ford was a very good actor, but he just didn't seem to cut it for this film the way some other actors did. Crowe's performance in this remake was monumental, but to be fair to the original actor, Crowe had a lot more to study from. This doesn't detract from his performance, however. I almost hate to single out Crowe's performance, although I believe it to be Oscar worthy, because everyone in the film was outstanding. This tells us not only that the casting crew deserved note, but also the director (who elicits the performances), the film editing crew (helping to make good cuts), the film crew (for making such good cuts), and actually everyone else. This was obviously a well oiled machine. I do have a gripe with the Sound, because I had to constantly adjust it, and lost much of the early dialog, but having done some film work myself, it is an ongoing joke among film people that sound people don't know what the H... they'e doing. Again, much like the original, which also had a well oiled machine, and no weak spots. A good film (in a year of some of the worst films on record), makes this a good choice for rental.