Open Range review

Few in Hollywood have gone from reverence to ridicule as swiftly and emphatically as Kevin Costner. After the glory days of Dances With Wolves, he has experienced an almost unbroken run of failures. It's fitting then that this streak come to an end with a western, the genre of his greatest success. There are still moments where Costner's stilted and earnest acting cause a wince, but thanks to a wonderful performance by Robert Duvall Open Range is an entertaining slice of old fashioned western drama.

Costner and Duvall prove a good pairing, with Costner's stoic Charley Waite contrasting with Duvall's more fiery Boss Spearman. Their relationship has occasional echoes of Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, but they're less like happy go lucky outlaws than the "old married couple," Boss calls them. Under Costner's direction, Duvall brings a warmth and humour to the tough Spearman. It's a feat Costner is less adept at achieving with his own performance. Though he invokes an unwavering sincerity, he's still prone to prompt the odd muffled giggle. In his defence it's hard to imagine anyone pulling off a line like "Men are going to get killed here today Sue, and I'm going to kill them," without sounding corny.

As one would expect with any western, Open Range begins with a lush score and shots of vast sweeping plains. Charley and Boss are a couple of "freegrazers", who have fled their pasts and taken to roaming the land with their herd of cattle and horses. Along the way they have picked up help in the form of the oversized and over-friendly Mose (Abraham Benrubi) and the young Button (Diego Luna).

Their normally peaceful existence comes to a violent end when they run into the ruthless Marshall, Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon), who, with the aid of the sheriff (James Russo), makes his contempt for freegrazers known. Unwilling to be threatened and bent on revenge, Charley and Boss begin on a course that inevitably leads to a climactic shootout. The gunfight's exaggerated brutality is both striking and a rare parting with tradition.

More true to its genre is the obligatory romantic plot. The mature but vigorous Sue (Annette Bening) is the spinster sister of the town doctor. Her long wait for the right man ends with the appearance of the taciturn Charley, their relationship cemented more by long lingering looks and an understanding than anything said.

Open Range is maybe not quite the caliber of Unforgiven, but it's a laudable reminder that although cinematic tastes have changed, there's always room for a good western.