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Appaloosa
New Line Cinema (Warner Bros. Pictures)


5.6

based on 32 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 28 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Pollock

MPAA RATING: R for some violence and language

Starring Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris, Renée Zellweger, Jeremy Irons, Timothy Spall, and Lance Henriksen

In the small mining community of Appaloosa, a ruthless, powerful rancher named Randall Bragg has allowed his band of outlaws to run roughshod over the town. After the cold-blooded murder of Appaloosa's city marshal, Cole and Hitch are hired to bring the murderer to justice. (Warner Bros.)

GENRE(S):	Western
WRITTEN BY:	Robert B. Parker (novel) Ed Harris Robert Knott
DIRECTED BY:	Ed Harris
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 13, 2009 Theatrical: September 19, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	114 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Appaloosa is gripping entertainment that keeps springing surprises.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Goes down like a single-malt aged for 25 years.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

If you're an actual adult who likes old-school Westerns, this won't disappoint you.

Film Threat Matthew Sorrento

The romantic subplot dovetails wonderfully with Harris' tribute to the genre's golden age. The moral quest of taming the West always thrived if a lady could be won in tandem.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A fine dramatic comedy with fresh characters, witty dialogue and a keen interest in how relationships must have developed among frontier folks, tyrannical ranchers, no-nonsense lawmen and -- oh, yes -- the complicated women on that frontier.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Beautifully photographed by Dean Semler, Appaloosa is the best Western since "Open Range" and shows there's still life in this most unfashionable of genres.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

It turns out to be a satisfying, if occasionally wandering, adventure.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

A warmly made, slightly offbeat movie about friendly devotion. It also happens to be a western, and every man in it is grizzled or wizened or both.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

What makes the movie absorbing is the way it harmonizes all the character strands and traits and weaves them into something more engaging than a mere 1-2-3 plot. I felt like I did in "Lonesome Dove" -- that there was a chair for me on the porch.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

First and last, Appaloosa is the slow-but-sure story of the friendship between Virgil and Everett, one a man of action surprised by emotion, the other a man of emotion surprised by action.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

An old-fashioned Western with all the classic elements -- buddy loyalty, stalwart heroes, despicable villains, plenty of gunfights and marvelous wind-scoured desert landscapes -- marked by some modern ideas about relationships.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Westerns often take themselves seriously and, while Appaloosa is no "Blazing Saddles," there's a refreshing vein of understated humor running throughout the production.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Most of the time, the movie is appropriately gritty and plenty engaging.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

This isn't a visionary western like "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" (2005), but in its own quiet way it delivers the goods.

Washington Post Mike Mayo

Harris and Mortensen may not have the combined star power to push Appaloosa to the level of popularity of last year's "3:10," but the film is every bit as enjoyable, and, for traditionalists, more measured.

Time Richard Corliss

It's good to spend time with a movie that takes its time. Granted, Harris doesn't advance the genre; instead he burrows into it, finds a home there, as one might retreat to musty library stacks, where old pleasures and treasures await.

The New Yorker David Denby

In all, Appaloosa is good as far as it goes--everything in it feels true--but I wish that Harris had pushed his ideas further.

Village Voice Chuck Wilson

Harris and his collaborators are playing it straight with a timeless male fantasy--horse, hat, six-shooter--a traditional approach that will please moviegoers like my dad and yours.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

As with many other mediocre actor-directors, Harris' attention to the performances, including his own fine turn, has cost him in other areas.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A throwback to the age when Westerns were quaint.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

We've heard tell about the rebirth of the Western at least since Clint Eastwood's vicious, "Unforgiven" 16 years ago, but since the genre never truly died in the first place there's no need to flog that horse here.

Christian Science Monitor Robert Koehler

As director, Harris takes this classical sense of the western too far, though, until it seems that the movie is carefully trying to keep the genre alive.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Harris is a major asset in a film that is entertaining but somewhat unfocused and occasionally badly cast.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

It's less a western than a loping buddy picture.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Appaloosa wobbles and wanders, promising to take a fresh look at those old myths, only to lapse back into weary convention.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Though the leads do fine work, their efforts often feel slightly futile. Despite a few flashes of the darker tone percolating under the surface, the movie remains too well-mannered to truly pull us in.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The movie's tolerant, good-humored view of its characters drains it of some dramatic intensity, but Mr. Harris seems more interested in piquant, offhand moments than in big, straining confrontations.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The two men collaborate so well, in fact, that the real love match of Appaloosa is between the two of them and no one else.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

If Appaloosa is something to look at, it's also unnecessarily lethargic. Even an intentionally slow-paced picture needs to have its own internal source of energy, and as a filmmaker, Harris can't quite get that motor running.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Harris' first directorial outing since his impressive and entirely different "Pollock" biopic bears echoes of many genre predecessors, especially Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo" -- but echoes they remain.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Mannered, episodic and slow.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Played for Maverick-like comedy, the film might have coasted on Harris and Mortensen's dialogue. But played straight it's both dull and preposterous.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.6 (out of 10) based on 28 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

j k gave it a5:
Hmmm, it was ok, but seemed to go at a purposely slow pace that seemed contrived.. Sometimes I think Zelwegger (Sp?) is hot, but not here.

Kyle S. gave it a1:
I am a western fan, especially those of Eastwood, Peckinpah and Leone. This movie felt like some egomaniacal actors willing themselves into the genre pantheon with performances and set-pieces that are sheer self-conscious pageantry. I agree that Zellwigger was obnoxious. I can't think of a western that doesn't feel in some way cliched, but this one was cliched and flatter than hammered crap to boot.

Terry R gave it a5:
Ok, not great...no masterpiece that is for sure. Script is highly leveraged from Open Range. Acting is not great. Can actors please quit getting facelifts and brightsmile treatments? Rene Z looked freakish in this movie with her too tight to smile face, and nothing like seeing a rugged old cowboy show up and bust out a Jessica Simpson type smile. See also: Powers Booth in Deadwood.

D. R. gave it a0:
This movie is horrible. The dialogue descends from laughable to appalling. The cinematography is that of an amateurish B-movie. There is no plot, and all attempts at one fail as logic or entertainment. Renee Zellweger is painful to look at and obnoxious. This movie is so bad - so, so bad. I cannot fathom what the critics are thinking or watching.

Gary M. gave it a3:
Dreadefully boring. A collection of oater cliches occupied about a third of the film, the other two thirds being spent in . . . meaningful transitions? Studies of how little there really was to do in the Old West? Whatever.

M M gave it a4:
Ed Harris' ego trip. Film rips off HIgh Plains Drifter plus sidekick. Renee Zellwegger is expressionless but we root for Jeremy Irons as the bad guy. The script was crying for dialogue. Take the yellow lens off the camera. Lots of missed opprtunities.

Bob H. gave it a3:
This movie was VERY slow. Things happen without explanation. Good acting, better directing is desired.

Appaloosa New Line Cinema (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Appaloosa
New Line Cinema (Warner Bros. Pictures)