Not bad for a modern Western

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2008)

I will first come out and say it, I'm not a huge Western fan. I don't watch John Wayne or anything like that. Not to say I don't like the Western lifestyle and all of that, but the movies always seem to fall short somewhere. But not Tombstone. Tombstone managed to keep my attention. Kurt Russell(Wyatt Earp), Sam Elliot (Virgil Earp) and Bill Paxton (Morgan Earp) are 3 actors I always like in movies, so that automatically had me interested. Powers Boothe was great in Red Dawn and Sin City, so I knew I wouldn't be disappointed when he played Curly Bill Brocious. Michael Biehn was always good, so I knew Johnny Ringo would be played well. Michael Rooker surprised me by playing Sherman McMasters so well (although he wasn't in the movie all that long). Even Billy Bob Thornton opened my eyes as Johnny Tyler, the sleazy poker dealer (again, only in the movie briefly). It wasn't a bunch of city-slicker big name actors standing around bored talking with terrible western fake accents, shooting and cussing at everyone. This was actually a movie I could follow and enjoy. The gunfights were authentic, the tension was realistic, and the whole movie felt...well...real. However, there were some parts I feel were overdone. Wyatt seemed a little cocky at times. I didn't like John Behan's character either, he was pretty improbable, how he was everywhere disaster struck but always manage to get out alive. Still, good movie. 8/10. (This movie is better than the movie "Wyatt Earp")