Actually just as good as its reputation suggests. A modern psuedo-noir classic from Altman. Tolkin’s tight screenplay exceeds his own novel.
Altman makes tight and gorgeous thriller with Hollywood as the main character. Tim Robbins is captivating as exec who is in over his head.
Pass, technically, as 2 detectives talk to each other.
Almost exactly average. If they’d just filmed it like a normal western instead of trying to make it music video-y it may have become more…
Sort of covered this with my review of the sequel. (Young Guns II) “Virtually all of the criticisms of it are valid; it definitely had that MTV-style over substance thing going on and the actors looked like little boys playing cowboys & indians. (Actually, in hindsight this may have been ahead of its time a little on the use of music video styling in filmmaking.)”
“But for all that, I liked it. While not probably expected to be a beacon of historical accuracy, it was probably more on the money than any other film on the Kid, and certainly takes the subject matter seriously. There are lots of fun little moments, particularly early on with Terrance Stamp. The brat pack of young actors actually handle themselves well and the biggest problem with the movie frankly is it’s so Hollywood. It feels like the big production that it is and subtlety is out the window.”
Other than that, I’d just like to say that Jack Palance is almost always a subtraction by addition kind of actor, and this is no exception. Also that I can’t watch or even think about this movie without remembering the Dennis Miller bit where he refers to the movie as the one where everyone in it is Martin Sheen’s son but none of them have his name. “Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez Sheen, Lou Diamond Philips Sheen…”
Poster:
Reaches far beyond original movie, which was shot more like a music video than a Western. Gorgeous photography & very good characterization.
This is one of my favorite movies, and I won’t apologize for it. It’s hardly high art, but it is a highly enjoyable movie that approaches (if not reaches) something even better.
To start with, I liked the first one. Virtually all of the criticisms of it are valid; it definitely had that MTV-style over substance thing going on and the actors looked like little boys playing cowboys & indians. (Actually, in hindsight this may have been ahead of its time a little on the use of music video styling in filmmaking.)
But for all that, I liked it. While not probably expected to be a beacon of historical accuracy, it was probably more on the money than any other film on the Kid, and certainly takes the subject matter seriously. There are lots of fun little moments, particularly early on with Terrance Stamp. The brat pack of young actors actually handle themselves well and the biggest problem with the movie frankly is it’s so Hollywood. It feels like the big production that it is and subtlety is out the window.
By contrast, then, the sequel feels markedly different. The characters have tried to move on from the events of the Lincoln County War, and if they are not entirely successful, it makes for more interesting characters. As The Kid enjoys his notoriety, it clearly is not fulfilling him as he tries to reclaim the camaraderie of the Regulators and his desperation at trying to keep the group together is real.
And if William Petersen isn’t given the screen time to really delve into the interesting character of Pat Garrett, it’s no slight on his performance, which makes use of all the time he has. In the hands of a different director, this film could have possibly become a character study between these two fascinating men.
The story is a much better one than last time. One thing I observed and consider a great tool is the fact that the characters are always in motion, always setting out on adventures, but in the end they really never get anywhere; they are prisoners of their own lifestyle, one that is untenable. The dialogue may not be cited by many film professors, but I think there are some really wonderful passages that benefit immensely by the fine work the actors do in making the words seem entirely natural to their characters.
The cinematography of this movie is really what I keep coming back to, though, when it comes to why I think this movie is worthy of attention. Director of Photography Dean Semler, who would win an Oscar for his other 1990 film Dances With Wolves, shot both movies in this series. I don’t know if it was the change of locations (this one split time between Arizona & New Mexico) or a deliberate different feel to reflect the story, but this film feels so much more grand. Vistas are sweeping and vast, hues are reflective of the desert and the Old West seems alive.
Need any other reasons to give it a try? Let’s see: a young Viggo Mortensen has a neat part as one of the lawmen, Jon Bon Jovi gets shot, and James Coburn (the most wonderful voice in Hollywood) brings the gravitas, and one of his lines from when he played Pat Garrett!
One of those you hate to love. Even if you hate Tucker (and who doesn’t, really) he is terribly funny in this. Jackie Chan is so charming…
I reviewed this one from memory for one reason; I had planned to watch X3 with my daughter but we ran out of time. So since I was already prepared for a Brett Ratner movie, I decided to do this one.
I probably won’t be reviewing the sequels. I remember seeing 2 in the theater and thinking it was pretty good for a sequel. I didn’t see the 3rd one.
If you liked 1980’s Eddie Murphy movies, you really can’t criticize this picture. I don’t find Tucker as funny, but I’m sure Richard Pryor fans didn’t find Murphy as funny either.
And any excuse to watch Jackie Chan is a pretty good one. The man is a magician and it’s a blast to gape at his crazy stunts. What he does is so beyond fight stunts; his moves are actual story elements.
FAIL
BAMF! Singer knocks it out of the park with this sequel, based on a Claremont classic. Despite unwelcome addition of more Halle Berry (ugh).
This one came out on my birthday, so I would possibly give it a better review based just on that, but this thing didn’t need to be graded on a curve. Was the best superhero movie of its day and is still one of the best of all time.
Story based on a Claremont classic. So good. The best thing going for this, as with all sequels, is the freedom from having to re-explain everything and spend half of your run-time setting up the premise. This movie blasts out of the gates with the assassination attempt; hits the ground running and never looks back.
Sure, there’s far too much Wolverine, and once they unwisely gave Halle Berry an Oscar she was able to demand more unwarranted screen-time, but for the most part Singer manages the large mix of characters well. Except for Cyclops; he gets hosed.
This isn’t the kind of genre-defying movie that Dark Knight was, but it is a top 5 comic book movie. Last chance to see what Singer could do, and he goes out on top. It is so unfortunate that we’ll never know what X3 would have been like with him. He set up the Dark Phoenix storyline; wish he could have delivered…
