A waste of talent

Rating: 5/10 (14 September 2007)

Saw this yesterday and was very disappointed. The acting from the two leads was below their normal standard and neither looked particularly inspired by their roles, although Crowe appeared to enjoy playing a roguish villain. At times there was a good level of tension but the pacing meant that the suspense was not really sustained. I felt the character of Ben Wade was unconvincing and lacked conviction. It fell into the trap of being a contrived and clichéd Hollywood villain more akin to an action film or even worse a TV movie and lacked the gravitas, power and humanity of characters such as Josey Wales or William Munny  which I imagine were the kind's characters and films that this was trying to emulate. Worst of all was the ending, which I won't fully reveal, but unfortunately was a typical Hollywood cop-out and completely unbelievable. The best thing in the film was Ben Foster who I agree stole every scene. He's now the go to guy for a plausible and three dimensional (and seriously deranged) baddie. But he's also shown his versatility in other films by portraying more complex characters and appearing in comedies such as 'Get Over It' and I predict/hope he will get his lead break soon.