Review of Open Range (2003) by Robert H — 07 Apr 2015

I've been on somewhat of a Kevin Costner binge lately, and I conclude that here with OPEN RANGE: his first directorial effort after the disaster that was THE POSTMAN, and a return to the Western genre.

Although the plot reminded me a little bit of Clint Eastwood's UNFORGIVEN, the tone was not elegiac, with the characters and themes hewing fairly closely to traditional archetypes instead of subverting them.

While it's not a bad film, per se, its sincerity dips into corny territory and I didn't exactly like that too much. Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner gave great performances, as one would expect.

This type of film is also not new to them, with Duvall previously starring in LONESOME DOVE and Costner starring in SILVERADO. I felt like their characters were developed enough, but they could play these roles in their sleep.

Annette Bening gets probably the biggest supporting role, but the romance that develops between her and Costner's character seemed out of place and contributed greatly to the sappiness which brings this film down.

Diego Luna and Michael Gambon also have supporting roles, but they weren't given too much to do. What the film does have going for it is the cinematography and score. Say what you will about Kevin Costner's films, but all (three) of them look beautiful.

He has a great eye for bringing out wonderful visuals of the American West. I also liked the non-intrusive score that accented the imagery quite nicely. However, the best part of this film is undoubtedly the epic shootout that serves as the climax.

It was extremely well-shot, realistic, and hard-hitting. No kidding, the sound design here was incredible and you feel every bullet hit. Sadly, that was the pinnacle. Not a bad one to have, but I would have liked the rest of the film to live up to this awesome sequence.

Overall, OPEN RANGE tends towards the traditional way of doing a Western, complete with outdated codes of honor and superfluous romance. It's a perfectly decent film, and a return to form of sorts for Costner, but it ranks pretty low in the pantheon of great Westerns.