Plot holes and clichés abound

Rating: Null/10 (3 July 2008)

There's so many plot holes in this movie that the whole movie quickly becomes unbelievable. The story involves a rancher (Bale) who needs money and takes a job transporting a dangerous killer (Crowe) by horseback. The killer eventually gets loose and starts killing people but Christian Bale and co. keep re-capturing him although Crowe's character does get loose again and kills another one of his captors. This goes on for an unbelievably long time. What's really unbelievable is that Crowe's captors never think of shooting him. There wouldn't be much a movie if this happened but the entire movie is based on a rather ridiculous premise.
Ben Foster's character is also annoying and completely rubbed me the wrong way. He's unconvincing as a vile little toadie to Crowe. The audience is mostly reminded again and again of how bad Foster's character is. Not just bad, bad-ass. Foster is a capable actor but he's completely out of place here. Where he was good was in "Six Feet Under" as a secondary character in an art school where he played a jealous, mentally ill art school student. He was more convincing in that. His 5'7 scrawny tough-guy persona is unintentionally funny at best.