Slow, slow, quick, quick, SLOW

Rating: 3/10 (9 January 2004)

There's a certain amount of nice scenic photography in this film. The mountains in winter look good from a helicopter. There is some rather horrible gore at the beginning, during the civil war battle. The rest is like "The Outlaw Josey Whales" without pace and without Eastwood's charisma. Just when you think the action may pick up, we get another softly-spoken, dirge-like voice-over from Nicole Kidman. Jude Law makes little impression in the lead male role. He is monosyllabic, and comes over as too lightweight for the 'epic' tale he is obliged to carry. Overall, the action is fatally episodic and the script WAY TOO LONG. Someone should have told Mingella to get busy with the blue pencil, but I guess he is too big a fish these days for that to happen. Pity. In the hands of a more dynamic director/writer it could have been good.