Last night, we went to the AMC in Santa Monica and watched APPALOOSA, the new western starring Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger, and Jeremy Irons (who is obviously the villian, since he has a British accent).
The movie is truly Harris's baby. He directed it (earnestly and without a hint of subtlety), co-wrote the script, and even sang the closing theme, an unbelievably campy ballad.
The film follows the spirit of last year's 3:10 TO YUMA remake by presenting a traditional, undeconstructed western flick, although APPALOOSA is, er, a horse of a different color. The storyline is unremittingly straightforward; like the train that conveys its characters around the scrubby landscape, it follows its rail with nary a twist or hairpin turn. It's entertaining in its way, with the pretty photography that make westerns such a pleasure on the big screen, and some witty exchanges between lawmen-for-hire Mortensen and Harris. (Plus, it has Timothy Spall, who seems to be in every movie we see -- his role as Wormtail in the Harry Potter movies have apparently made him the go-to guy for servile characters in American movies).
The theme of the story is also a traditional one of the western flick: That the platonic love between two male friends is far purer and more dependable than any relationship with any woman -- particularly (spoiler warning) the two women in this film, who seem to be only women (other than servants or background elements) in the entire west. Or, as a later generation would crudely put it, "Bros before hos." (Again, appropriate for the female characters in this flick.)
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