"Appaloosa" (2008) - Movie Review

It is not about the suspense, thriller or the action. It is about western and predominantly about Ed Harris doing the professional gun for hire Virgil Cole with a pleasure and relish of a life long dream of being that man. It is also about Viggo Moretensen with a structured face and sculptured beard with a look of a clean man with sweat as the evidence of hardship and eyes as the indication of his concentration and professionalism in his duty. Despite gun for hires, these two men show an exemplified abide to the law they propose and adhere. This is “Appaloosa”, a western film which begins as something of pet project of Ed Harris and becomes about the brotherhood and untold actions.

In the town of Appaloosa, town heads hire Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) to bring order to the place which has lost its Marshall to a rich land lord Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) outside the location. At first glance, Cole and Hitch presents an epitome of smirk and calm arrogance the men of those times would have possessed but soon we find out the cleanliness in their actions. Sure they kill but with a relentless presence of their law. The law out here is the one they have framed and declaring as that becomes their condition for their hire. Each one compliments, speaks straight and responds immaculately. Regardless of their terse communication both of them not alone understand each other but provide that space of appreciation, respect and regard.

In that place of nowhere comes a widow Allison Finch (Renée Zellweger), a piano teacher. From distance does Hitch identifies this stranger and follows her to the restaurant. There is Cole already sitting and he joins him. Both are aware of each other’s move towards her and at the same time provide the opportunity to each other. Cole asks to escort Ally to the hotel while Hitch understanding what Cole is doing lets it his way. Hitch teases him with the interest showed by Ally to Cole. Having spent no long time in various places and been a partner, Cole falls for her.

This while definitely shifts the momentum in between these two is not a conflict but a change for which Hitch while surprised by his partner’s action respects it. In between that comes the subtle suspense when Bragg is brought to the justice and things are revealed when they take him in train. It becomes from a western project into something else. The bond between men with guns is a usual fair but the untold communications, feelings and understanding of these men are not usual but a display of acting by these two. The agility and the grace Mortensen and Harris pour over these men can solely be a reason to visit the “Appaloosa”. And actually it has a lot more than that.

In between these two Zellweger comes as a woman with insecurity. She gives a woman who wants to be told that she will not be alone and some one whose life needs an attestation by presence of a man with power and charisma. It is her character which becomes and makes the relationship between these men a level above the norm of brotherhood. It cannot be better played by these three to make this film work enormously to its advantage.

“Appaloosa” is not a pictorial artsy display of cinematographically excelling in its tenure as “The Assassination of Jesse James by Coward Robert Ford” did. It does not have the frame work of unlimited lands with dangerous spaces to be covered. It has two men carrying out their definition of duty and their changes in life. They have the maturity which surprises us on the nakedness of it.

“Feelings get you killed” says Cole to Hitch at one point in the film when they go in search of Ally. And in that scene if there is a perfect marriage of dialogue, simplest photography and performance, it would exist in that sequence. It is carried out with a casual delivery of Harris with a doubting Mortensen to summarize the film. These men know the other better than themselves.

“Appaloosa” is a picture sustaining through its actors more than anything. It has plots and its deviations but it is not about it. It is the people whose actions sometime need to be left unsaid. Saying it aloud would erase its value and the justification of it into pieces of explanation scattered in a desert. Hitch does that in the end and Cole’s gratitude needs to be unsaid. It has to be and that’s what Hitch wants too.