2/3 of the most amazing movie I've ever seen

Rating: 1/10 (9 August 2008)

I just finished watching this film. I normally wait a day before telling anyone anything about a movie I've seen, but I couldn't wait to complain about this thing.
I've watched hundreds of movies. The more complicated a movie is, the more I like it. I love movies I have to watch twice because the twists and turns came so fast. Syrianna is a good example of that. If you want me to watch a movie, say "I didn't get that movie." I'm not against films where the good guy dies. I'm not against movies where everybody dies. Hell, I loved Reservoir Dogs. I would have been OK with the good guy dying in this one, but not that way, not without being there to watch. Not without some sense that his death was thought out.
The great potential with this film was for Louellen to kill the assassin. Great pains were taken to show that the assassin was indestructible. He even had a contingency plan for getting into pharmacies to take care of his own gunshot wounds.
Here's how it should have ended: Louellen's wife arrives at the hotel in El Paso just after the gunfight. The jacked up pickup speeds away carrying the last 4 Mexicans left alive. The sheriff walks out and takes his hat off to tell Louellen's wife he has been killed.
The rest of the movie plays out as released until the assassin goes to kill Louellen's wife. She refuses to call the coin toss, and Louellen springs out of the shadows and shoots the assassin repeatedly. The sheriff retires and explains to his wife that they now have a million dollars to spend. Louellen and his wife walk from the flaming house of his now-dead mother-in-law carrying a bag. Fade to black.