Appaloosa (2008)

Director: Ed Harris

Cast: Robert Jauregui as Marshall Jack Bell (as Bobby Jauregui), Jeremy Irons as Randall Bragg, Timothy V. Murphy as Vince, Luce Rains as Dean, James Tarwater as Chalk (as Jim Tarwater), Boyd Kestner as Bronc, Gabriel Marantz as Joe Whittfield, Ed Harris as Virgil Cole, Viggo Mortensen as Everett Hitch, Benjamin Rosenshein as Town Boy, Cerris Morgan-Moyer as Tilda, James Gammon as Earl May, Timothy Spall as Phil Olson, Tom Bower as Abner Raines, Erik J. Bockemeier as Fat Wallis

There are two tough partners in justice Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and
Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) that have been riding together for more
than one decade and they understand each other just fine… So they're
not initially supposed to talk about their easy, warm, intuitive
solidarity… We intuitively catch there's something between them, that
special bond, that profound respect, and obviously that sense of
esteem, of attention and sympathy and most of all each other's needs…

Ed is particularly fine… It may not be a romantic conception, but he
gives his role great vitality… He's melancholy, laconic and assured as
the cool, nerveless professional hired gun who becomes the town's peace
keeper... His justice is rapid and simple… Follow his law or get locked
up; if you deny, you're going to be shot… He's also very faithful, and
you see this in his friendship with Everett Hitch…

Virgil trusts Everett completely because Everett is very sincere and
truthful with him…

With his formidable shotgun, Everett is a kind of Virgil's straight
man, his worshiping right hand and conscience… Mortensen is a
sharpshooter… He's never seen on foot, in any scene, without his huge
weapon… His heavy rifle has become almost another character in the
film… It doesn't matter where, either in his hands or right next to
him… And that's in the bar, in the restaurant, in the office, and even
in the bedroom…

Renee Zellweger plays the role of Allison French, a mysterious woman
who seduces everyone…After Cole and Hitch meet her in a restaurant,
they knew that she is a refined widow, that she arrives to the brutal
New Mexico town with one dollar in her purse, that she plays piano and
likes to be called Allie…

Cole takes a liking to her, and makes a very tough decision to stick
with her… Zellweger plays the malicious new-gal with a great sense of
sweetness and gaiety… She brings liveliness and refinement to her role…

Another strong character in "Appaloosa" is the miscreant cold-hearted
rancher Randall Bragg… The film starts with the killing of the town's
last Marshall and his deputies at the hands of the nefarious Bragg
played by Jeremy Irons… Bragg is a wealthy man whose ranch henchmen run
menacingly and aggressively over the town…

"Appaloosa" is a Western of real depth and sophistication… Every punch
seen in the film is like a word of dialog moving the story forward,
creating tension and drama…