Rent Open Range (2003)

One-dimensional characters and story with made-for-TV feel, but fine if you like Kevin Costner. - Open Range review by PS

Two-thirds through this film I found myself wandering around the living room tidying up, not paying attention. That is how un-engaging I found it.

A friend recommended 'Open Range' to me, after I was singing the praises of Clint Eastwood's 'Unforgiven'. The friend described Open Range as a similar story to Unforgiven and worth watching. The two stories are superficially similar but Open Range has none of the subtlety, nuance, or intelligence of Unforgiven. The only character with much depth or charm is Robert Duvall playing 'Boss'. Kevin Costner plays Kevin Costner: attempting the moody and mysterious ageing cowboy but failing to pull it off convincingly for me. In case you didn't get the clumsy hints about his troubled past and emotional baggage, he just blurts out his backstory by the campfire one evening, as if it's a therapy session.

Without giving too many spoilers, the baddies are all one-note nasty gits bent on greed and vindictive violence, while the plucky townsfolk are only too happy to fall in behind Costner and Duvall, as they are clearly the righteous goodies.

Saying all that, the final shootout is very well done and might be worth the laboured build-up, if you enjoy Costner's antics.

Summing up, all the way through I was thinking about how much better Unforgiven is in every way. Wish I had watched that again instead of this.

Good storyline - Open Range review by AB

I liked this - the story has been seen before a hundred times in westerns (and other genres) but the pulling together of the sub-plots was enjoyable. Life was tough in those days and corruption probably rife, but there must have been good guys like the main protagonists to help build a huge country from nothing.

Absorbing Western - Open Range review by CD

Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner lift this above the ordinary but the plot is not very sophisticated and it feels overlong. The wider array of characters and their warming towards the free grazers’ cause is  well done, and the extended  gunfight is a powerful bit of filming .  The film misses a chance to go deeper into the lead characters and their motivations.  There are quite a few night shots so if your TV is as bad as  mine in coping with low light then you may struggle with seeing some of the action.

Great Western - Like A Classic - Open Range review by GI

Thematically this harks back to the westerns of the 40s and 50s and to the revised westerns directed by the likes of Clint Eastwood and Sam Peckinpah. There's no pretensions here this is simply a tale of frontier justice, right & wrong and with a lovely romance thrown in for good measure. It's arguably one of the finest westerns from the last 20 years and director Kevin Costner keeps the film rattling along and when it bursts into action it's gritty, brutal and exciting without falling in gratuitousness. Robert Duvall stars as Boss Spearman, a small time cattle owner moving his small herd across country with his crew of Charlie (Costner), Mose (Abraham Benrubi) and Button (Diego Luna). Their fortunes take a turn for the worst when when they come up against cattle baron Baxter (Michael Gambon) who runs the local town and covets Boss's cows. Outnumbered Boss is forced to fight for what is right and Charlie happens to have a gunfighting past. This is just a great, almost humble film that deliberately sets out to be a classic western and succeeds. Annette Bening co stars and Duvall and Costner are a perfect pair. If you've not seen this then it's well worth checking out.