Defines difference between quality & entertainment

Rating: 6/10 (11 September 2007)

It seems that Russel Crowe has been trying to dig himself out of a hole ever since he threw that telephone at a hotel worker....Alas this remake of a relatively minor film from the 50's is a great example of a film that is extremely well made but lets be honest, not a great deal of fun.
Everything about the film is a downer. I don't mean that in a bad way but potential film-goers need to know what they are getting in for. While the cast is uniformly excellent the question that is begged here is why was this film remade? They have lifted whole sections of dialog from Delmer's film and have really done nothing more than add realism to the violence. Sure, it is in color but to what end? Every bit of vibrancy in the image has been drained out as if they wanted to do it in black and white but didn't have the guts.
I really wanted to enjoy this movie but found myself checking my watch on more than one occasion particularly in the last half hour. Mangold has made some great films ("Identity" comes to mind even more than "Walk The Line") but all that he really proves here is that given two of the finest actors working today that he can do as well as Delmer Daves did 50 years ago.