FilmBlather.com

"Bring yore guns."

You may be relieved to hear that Kevin Costner's Open Range is a bona-fide western, not a snarky, ironic, modernized imitation, the first in a while. You may be disheartened to learn that it is also a typical Kevin Costner movie, pompous, drawn-out and uneven. Here's just how uneven it is: the first third is just dynamite, the second is static and distracted, and the last mixes flashes of brilliance with moments of such typical Costner turgidity that one can only shake his head. Fitting in neatly with the schizophrenic nature of the movie are the two lead performances: a spectacular turn from Robert Duvall and a mediocre attempt from, whaddyaknow, Kevin Costner.

And I can't really stress this enough: the first forty-five minutes or so are just wonderful, building a leisurely but involving rhythm that didn't exactly have me on the edge of my seat but did make me lose track of the time. This period mostly encompasses the time before Boss Spearman (Duvall) and Charlie Waite (Costner) go into "town" to avenge the death of their one companion and the wounding of another. There was something beguiling about the day-to-day life of freegrazers (cattle ranchers who travel nomadically across the country instead of buying land of their own) depicted here, and I don't think it was just the pastoral vistas that kept my attention. I almost wanted to resist any type of plot development.

But develop the plot does, for better or worse -- no wait, for worse -- and like most westerns of yesteryear, the film builds to what is sure to be a dramatic confrontation between the heroes and villains -- the villains in this case being the rich town rancher (Michael Gambon), the sheriff whose loyalty he purchased (James Russo), and their thugs, who are responsible for the murder of gentle giant Mose (Abraham Benrubi) and the freegrazers' beloved dog, as well as for the crippling injury dealt to young Button (Diego Luna), who lies in the office of a local MD, fighting for his life.

That MD is Dr. Barlow (Dean McDermott), but Button remains primarily in the care of his sister Sue (Annette Bening), a woman who has waited for the right opportunity/the right man for so long that her time is almost out. She and Charlie have a chemistry -- or at least we're supposed to believe that they do -- and the result is that most of the second act is spent with Boss and Charlie moping around awkwardly in the Barlow house, and the story grinds to a halt.

But we know that a big gun fight is coming, so it can't stay at a halt for too long. That's not really the problem. The problems are elsewhere: for one thing, the central conflict has no dramatic heft whatsoever. The villains get absolutely no face time; one particular character, billed as the fastest gunhand in the west or what have you, shows up for literally thirty seconds to get shot in the head. The evil cattle rancher, played by Michael Gambon channeling Geoffrey Rush, has one scene in the beginning of the film, and then, again, comes back to get killed, though he does get to deliver an impassioned monologue. It's all well and good to say that this is a character study of the two protagonists, but when we are not given a real sense of their plight, they are at the mercy of the script, which essentially embroils them in arbitrary conflict.

I mentioned that this was a character study. The main character isn't studied nearly enough. The older man is just fine, mostly thanks to Robert Duvall, who slips into the language and feel of the western so naturally it's like he's been there all his life. Charlie, however, is hit with the one-two shot of being horrendously underwritten and clumsily underacted. There are clearly some things about him that are intended to remain a mystery -- his violent past, for example -- but somehow they forgot all of the other things that are supposed to be revealed. I couldn't tell you anything about Charlie; not what kind of man he is, not how he would react in any situation, nothing. Costner, still patently uncomfortable with the gruff, spitting, macho persona he has to portray, doesn't help by playing him as a blank slate. His scenes with Bening are horrendously stilted; the word "chemistry" isn't even in their vocabulary.

The gunfight and the aftermath are pulled off skillfully and quite effectively, but then the movie refuses to end. I won't give it away, but there is a scene in a garden that just goes on and on until we're screaming at them to shut up already, and then it's still not over and we're treated to some ten more minutes of wind-up.

I've been harsh on Open Range, but it really is good to see a western de jure again. There's a good movie in here, but it's beat into submission by Costner execution. He has made many fine films, but only once behind the camera, and that was thirteen years ago. Open Range isn't a pretentious disaster, but it's hardly a return to form.