Appaloosa
February 2009 Reviewed by: Mischa Hayek Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Appaloosa is Ed Harris’s second stint as director -- his first being the highly acclaimed Pollock (2000) in which he also starred as renowned American abstract-impressionist painter Jackson Pollock. Here Harris plays Virgil Cole, an ex-Army officer who teams up with sharpshooter Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) as lawmen for hire. They accept jobs as sheriff and deputy in the Wild West town of Appaloosa in 1885. The town has been under control of rancher Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons), whom townsfolk believe is responsible for the death of their previous sheriff and two deputies. Cole and Hitch seem to restore some order by standing up to Bragg’s lawless ranch hands until widow Allison French (Renée Zellweger) arrives in Appaloosa and proceeds to target Cole as her new husband. As Cole begins having thoughts of settling down, Bragg sees an opportunity to exploit Cole’s new weakness.

Appaloosa is based on crime writer Robert Parker’s novel of the same name. Harris and co-producer Robert Knott adapted the book for the screen, but neither seems to have a good feel for the material. The conversations between Cole and his friend Hitch seem awkward and stilted, especially considering the two are longtime partners. The film runs 115 minutes and one feels every minute. Dialogue replaces action, and both Cole and Hitch are so constipated and inwardly focused it is hard to really care about either of them.

However, New Line Cinema cared more than I did. In this DVD release, New Line packaged both the widescreen and fullscreen versions on one disc, as well as a director’s commentary with Ed Harris and producer-screenwriter Robert Knott and approximately 40 minutes of bonus features.

The image and sound quality on this release are acceptable, but certainly not extraordinary or approaching reference-level material. I was put off by a couple of things. In terms of the picture, there's good detail and nice color balance, but the images do not seem sufficiently vibrant, which is particularly noticeable in the final scene, shot at sunset. It is not as rich as it could, or perhaps should, be. The sound, too, while clean, isn't visceral or moving when it needs to be. This is most apparent with gunfire -- the shots are muted, indicating a lack of dynamics; they don't sound like real gunshots at all.

From viewing the special features it was clear that producer-director Harris went to great efforts along with the crew to create an authentic feel for the fictional town of Appaloosa, as well as painstakingly paying attention to the fashions of the time. Cinematographer Dean Semler and Harris opted for simple camerawork with no special or difficult techniques. I suspect this helped keep the budget under control and reduce filming to a brief 54 days. Unfortunately, the viewer gets a pared-down film with the camera doing no more than recording events.

Westerns -- at least good westerns -- have a grandeur and scope to them that other genres of film generally do not. Some, like Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves (1990), capture the beauty and magnificence of the land; others, such as Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven (1992) or Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood (2007), create unforgettable characters and have dialogue that one can chew on years later. Unfortunately, Appaloosa is not in this class of film -- or close to it.

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