Westerns do not typically do well at the box office. 3:10 to Yuma may have made $50 million, but most, like this one, do a small fraction of that. In fact, this one probably didn't pay for the crew's donuts. That is a shame, as it was well worth seeing.
Maybe it is because westerns typically present the world in black and white - good guys versus bad guys. That world only exists on right wing talk radio. Even good guys have flaws and bad guys may not always be completely to blame (Hitler, Stalin and Bush/Cheney excepted).
Liam Neeson plays a man obsessed with revenge in this film. It was a beautiful display of how such obsession can eat you up until you have lost all humanity. We have all been wronged at one time or another, and sometimes we hold onto those feelings far too long. Neeson brilliantly played such a man - a man who would trade his last drink of water for a gun with one bullet as he crossed a desert in search of Pierce Brosnan, the bad guy, who really wasn't.
Brosnan, who out-Ramboed John Rambo as he treated his own wound early in the film, gave a really cool performance as the man who just couldn't understand why Neeson couldn't let go.
Writer/Director David Von Ancken did a credible job with a story that plays well for all of us.
Oscar-winning Cinematographer John Toll (Braveheart, Legends of the Fall) gave us breathtaking scenes in Oregon and New Mexico to take away with us.
Maybe it is because westerns typically present the world in black and white - good guys versus bad guys. That world only exists on right wing talk radio. Even good guys have flaws and bad guys may not always be completely to blame (Hitler, Stalin and Bush/Cheney excepted).
Liam Neeson plays a man obsessed with revenge in this film. It was a beautiful display of how such obsession can eat you up until you have lost all humanity. We have all been wronged at one time or another, and sometimes we hold onto those feelings far too long. Neeson brilliantly played such a man - a man who would trade his last drink of water for a gun with one bullet as he crossed a desert in search of Pierce Brosnan, the bad guy, who really wasn't.
Brosnan, who out-Ramboed John Rambo as he treated his own wound early in the film, gave a really cool performance as the man who just couldn't understand why Neeson couldn't let go.
Writer/Director David Von Ancken did a credible job with a story that plays well for all of us.
Oscar-winning Cinematographer John Toll (Braveheart, Legends of the Fall) gave us breathtaking scenes in Oregon and New Mexico to take away with us.