too much is never good

Rating: 6/10 (9 November 2001)

Tombstone	Title: Too much is never good
This 130-minutes during film doesn't give you a very good feeling. Sure, the actors are all playing their parts well (not good, just well) and Val Kilmer is really terrific as the tuberculosis patient Doc Holliday (it is one of the best roles Kilmer has ever done) and the scenery is very well done, but there is something not all right with the movie. The problem is that there are simply to many characters in this work. Besides the three Earp brothers Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan there are the three wives of the brothers, Doc Holliday and his Hungarian Kate, the tempting Josephine and her colleague Mr. Fabian, Billy Breckenridge, a good role from Jason Priestley, and a hole bunch of bad guys. It just isn't possible to put all of these persons lives and problems in 130 minutes of film. The headaches that Wyatt Earp's wife has, for instance, don't get enough attention to get involved in her situation. The same goes for the whole Morgan Earp-character, played unenthusiastic by Bill Paxton. He hasn't got enough screentime to get you interested in why he does what he does. He seems to be in this movie for the reason that it's impossible to make a movie about the legendary Wyatt Earp without mentioning his two brothers Virgil and Morgan.
The second thing not making the movie a very good one is that you don't know who the main character is: Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday. In the beginning it's obvious that Kurt Russell's Wyatt Earp is the most important person in the film, but slow but sure the Doc Holliday-part gets bigger and so much more interesting than Earp. This is because Val Kilmer is playing Doc Holliday with his whole heart and because you feel more for Holliday that for Earp. Wyatt Earp (in this motion picture) is a man who just wants to get a lot of money with doing as little as possible and Doc Holliday is the kind of person who wants to be there for Earp whenever he needs him, ill or not, Earp can always count on Doc Holliday. Writer Kevin Jarre and director George P. Cosmatos should have made a choice between Earp and Holliday and they didn't. That's a shame and it makes 130 minutes a heck of a long time.
Luckily, like I mentioned before, Val Kilmer is a pleasure to watch and Jason Priestley and Billy Zane are acting very good as well. The scenery's are very impressing and Joseph Porro's customs are nearly perfect. All of this keeps the movie watchable, but not much more that that I'm afraid.