Bale and Crowe are terrific together

Rating: 9/10 (7 September 2007)

They really make this movie. I don't know how good it would have been with other actors. In the trivia, I just saw that Cruise and Bana were originally considered for this. Well we dodged a bullet there. Crowe and Bale just seemed so comfortable on screen not really playing against each other, but it was more like playing together, like two guys in a band. Bale, as Dan Evans, would be on bass and Crowe, as Ben Wade, on lead guitar. And I guess in a weird way the frontman would actually be one of the supporting cast members, Ben Foster as Charles Prince. The other members of the cast did a great job too.
I don't see this as a real gunslinger type of movie. I mean it has shootouts and action scenes but it's very deliberate and not too showy. I haven't seen the original yet so I can't compare it. But compared to the other westerns I've seen this is one of the good ones. I believe it's rated R but I'm not too sure why. Maybe an 'F' word flew past me that I didn't notice or something, but apart from normal Western type violence (the kind where you see the bullet go in, not the shooter standing there), there wasn't much in it other than that there was a half-naked bum. But that's it. So I'd say it's great for anyone 13 and older. Even maybe a little younger if you have a younger Western fan in the family.
edit: I have seen the original now and I have to say this one is better. I'm not a remake fan but this is how remakes should be done. It's different enough to be worth making and it's the still the same story so it's not just an excuse to make money off of a recognizable title. The main differences are the length of it, maybe half an hour more, and the characters are more complex in this one.