Interesting plot and characters collapse under overwrought execution

Rating: 4/10 (7 October 2003)

The performances are strong, the plot has promise, the characters have depth. But Clint Eastwood's heavy-headed, overwrought direction left me completed unenthused -- another in the unfortunate "shaken but not stirred" category. The movie is emotionally homogenous from beginning to end: unrelentingly heavy-handed and overwraught, so self-pleasingly dripping with the grit of the human condition that by the end, that grit feels tired and contrived. The whole movie watches like a sickeningly over-spiced dish cooked for people who have destroyed their taste buds, and cannot taste normal food. The insipid philosophical dialogue at the end capped the whole weary beast -- no, the corny tagline was *not* invented by the marketing department....
If you loved Unforgiven, you'll probably like this one. But if you found Unforgiven a bit tiresome, you'll find this one worse.