'Open Range'
(Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall / R / 137 mins / Touchstone)
Overview:Four men (Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Diego Luna, and Abraham Benrubi) living in the Wild West band together to rid their town of a rancher who's created an outlaw principality using brute force and scare tactics. Annette Bening plays Costner's love interest.
Verdict: Whilst there are definitely some very fine performances in 'Open Range', there's not enough meat on the spit! OK, what I mean by that is 'Opeb Range' is a movie of beauty and sensitivity, balanced out by both tedium and absurdity at times, and at all times weighed down by Costner's naked attempts to make it a 'classic.' Costner has noble intentions, but he only bores us with them, yet Duvall continues to prove why he's the greatest living actor of our time. And so, at it's best, 'Open Range' is mostly just a good yarn, with attractive picture-postcard vistas and an agreeable strain of light humor.
Reviewed by Russell A. Trunk