Open Range

Several years after he inflicted the diabolical mess that was The Postman, Kevin Costner gets back in the saddle for this western. Even if Open Range is a handsome piece of work, it's undermined by its director's inability to make a film with any real nuance beyond the most broad character strokes.

In terms of plot, this is standard Western fare: the haggard Boss (Robert Duvall) and his sidekick Charley (Kevin Costner) are former lawbreakers now earning a straight living on the road with their cattle and wild horses. Their number is doubled by the arrival Mose (Abraham Benrubi) and the young Button (Diego Luna). Yet trouble rears its head when they encounter Marshall, Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon), who, with the aid of the sheriff (James Russo), both of whom are about as honest as the average TD. When our good ole boys refuse to be shakedowns for the corruptors, it's looks like a gun fight is the only answer. Throw in a basic romance with a spinster (Bening) for Charley and you've pretty much got the bones of Open Range.

Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it? If Costner was intent on making another Unforgiven, he's on the wrong track with Close Range. Like Clint Eastwood's movie, the themes of revenge and redemption are central, and both are filmed at a leisurely, almost stately pace. Where they differ quite radically is that there's no sense of real ambiguity about any of the characters in Open Range. Costner is unable to temper his wilder excesses for wildly broad characterisations, and easily falls into highly moralistic mode. There's much to enjoy in the skilful cinematography, and a spicy gunfight, but the inability of the director to separate his preachy morals can't extend Open Range far beyond the scenically watchable.