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Open Range (2003) - Direced by Kevin Costner
"Everything they think they are or did, takes hold so hard that it won't let them see what they can be."
I watched this a while back with by grandparents who said it was a good movie. I watched it in HD, to be more specific. This little tidbit plays an important role in the review later. Right now, let me just sum up the basics by saying it was a good movie with good acting but it was a little hard to follow and needed more meat to the story.
Open Range is a western about an open-range cattleman and a scarred ex-soldier dealing with an abusive land baron who hates open-rangers and attempts to scare them away and even kill them. Eventually, the land baron pushes all the wrong buttons, and it's war.
The characters had the making of lovavle characters one could relate to, but they weren't quite developed enough, and so they weren't relatable enough. This unfortunate oversight made the characters feel a little generic. But the acting was good. This all-star cast nailed it good. And the story was a bit interesting. It needed a lot of meat to add to the plate, however, and the length of the movie occasionally kept it slow at times and boring in a couple of spots.
The scenery was all good and convincing, having that old-west open-range presence. But there's something you should know: never watch this movie in HD. There's a garden at the end of the movie, and with HD you can tell it's plastic. Well, Costner, I guess he over-spending lesson Waterworld tried to teach you didn't pan out as well as you thought.
One more thing I have to say was that the action was all fun and thrilling. My brain was on the edge of it's seat. But Costner didn't direct the ending scene as well as I had liked. It focused a little too much on being epic and not enough on the action itself.
Open Range is a fun movie, but I hardly consider it an essential figure for the western scene or for Costner fans. Maybe completionists will get more of a kick out of it.
"Everything they think they are or did, takes hold so hard that it won't let them see what they can be."
I watched this a while back with by grandparents who said it was a good movie. I watched it in HD, to be more specific. This little tidbit plays an important role in the review later. Right now, let me just sum up the basics by saying it was a good movie with good acting but it was a little hard to follow and needed more meat to the story.
Open Range is a western about an open-range cattleman and a scarred ex-soldier dealing with an abusive land baron who hates open-rangers and attempts to scare them away and even kill them. Eventually, the land baron pushes all the wrong buttons, and it's war.
The characters had the making of lovavle characters one could relate to, but they weren't quite developed enough, and so they weren't relatable enough. This unfortunate oversight made the characters feel a little generic. But the acting was good. This all-star cast nailed it good. And the story was a bit interesting. It needed a lot of meat to add to the plate, however, and the length of the movie occasionally kept it slow at times and boring in a couple of spots.
The scenery was all good and convincing, having that old-west open-range presence. But there's something you should know: never watch this movie in HD. There's a garden at the end of the movie, and with HD you can tell it's plastic. Well, Costner, I guess he over-spending lesson Waterworld tried to teach you didn't pan out as well as you thought.
One more thing I have to say was that the action was all fun and thrilling. My brain was on the edge of it's seat. But Costner didn't direct the ending scene as well as I had liked. It focused a little too much on being epic and not enough on the action itself.
Open Range is a fun movie, but I hardly consider it an essential figure for the western scene or for Costner fans. Maybe completionists will get more of a kick out of it.