Unforgiven (1992): Get back on that saddle.
There is nothing I can't say about Westerns. For some reason, I just love shoot-'em-up cowboy flicks. Cough, Tombstone (and most Spaghetti Westerns). Thusly, I was expecting a lot from Unforgiven, mainly because of Clint Eastwood and the fact that it won quite a handful of Oscars.
You could say that I was disappointed.
Clint Eastwood, no matter what role he plays, is always The Man With No Name first and Dirty Harry second. I was totally up for a new Western from him, and since he was directing, I was really looking forward to it -- I wanted to see what Eastwood had in him as a director. I'll get to him in a second, but first, to the story.
David Webb Peoples, has written only two movies I've enjoyed so far: Twelve Monkeys and Blade Runner. He should, in all honesty, just stick with Science Fiction films. The story to Unforgiven is mediocre at best. It's quite lackluster. William Munny (Eastwood) is a retired and reformed killer, who decides to pick up his old, dusty guns to cash in on a bounty placed on two rough cowboys who cut up a prostitute's face. The whores of Big Whiskey (the town where this all happens) are furious and gather all of their money and put the bounty out. That's essentially the story. Maybe there's more to it, like a deep psychosis of things, where Munny changes from good to bad throughout the film, but I can't say that I saw it.
Munny is the average anti-hero; the hero of the story with that the dark past, which in essence makes their characters always cooler. But every hero needs a sidekick, and that's where Morgan Freeman's character comes in: Ned. Ned is really, really flat. He is the ubiquitous cardboard cutout, that it is incredibly sad. Maybe the main focus of the film is Munny's return to his dark past, but I felt that so much more could have been played out for Ned. The Schofield Kid (played by Jaimz Woolvett) had more life to him. Unfortunately Woolvett has yet to do anything big since the film, mainly dabbing in television for the past decade.
The acting done by the leads was great: Eastwood, Freeman, Gene Hackman and Richard Harris. Seriously? They're all great -- Harris was, rest his soul.
Hackman's character in the film was kind of odd to see in a Western. He's the antagonist, but he's also the Sheriff, the law. Which I give People's respect for that -- I have a thing with role-reversals in stories. Hackman was great, though wasn't he essentially the same character in The Quick and the Dead?
Richard Harris was short lived in the film. His character, English Bob, was really less as prominent in the film as I was lead to believe. His name is on the cover for crying out loud!
And now I'm finally to Eastwood's directing. It's was alright. Had it been his first time directing, I would have been impressed, but since he's had an extensive record of directing, it's okay. Nothing spectacular, though I still need to see his other films as well.
All-in-all, I was sorely disappointed in the film; there just seemed to be much missing throughout. If you're either an Eastwood or Western fan, I say watch the film at least once, just to have an opinion. But other than that, you probably don't need to see it.
You could say that I was disappointed.
Clint Eastwood, no matter what role he plays, is always The Man With No Name first and Dirty Harry second. I was totally up for a new Western from him, and since he was directing, I was really looking forward to it -- I wanted to see what Eastwood had in him as a director. I'll get to him in a second, but first, to the story.
David Webb Peoples, has written only two movies I've enjoyed so far: Twelve Monkeys and Blade Runner. He should, in all honesty, just stick with Science Fiction films. The story to Unforgiven is mediocre at best. It's quite lackluster. William Munny (Eastwood) is a retired and reformed killer, who decides to pick up his old, dusty guns to cash in on a bounty placed on two rough cowboys who cut up a prostitute's face. The whores of Big Whiskey (the town where this all happens) are furious and gather all of their money and put the bounty out. That's essentially the story. Maybe there's more to it, like a deep psychosis of things, where Munny changes from good to bad throughout the film, but I can't say that I saw it.
Munny is the average anti-hero; the hero of the story with that the dark past, which in essence makes their characters always cooler. But every hero needs a sidekick, and that's where Morgan Freeman's character comes in: Ned. Ned is really, really flat. He is the ubiquitous cardboard cutout, that it is incredibly sad. Maybe the main focus of the film is Munny's return to his dark past, but I felt that so much more could have been played out for Ned. The Schofield Kid (played by Jaimz Woolvett) had more life to him. Unfortunately Woolvett has yet to do anything big since the film, mainly dabbing in television for the past decade.
The acting done by the leads was great: Eastwood, Freeman, Gene Hackman and Richard Harris. Seriously? They're all great -- Harris was, rest his soul.
Hackman's character in the film was kind of odd to see in a Western. He's the antagonist, but he's also the Sheriff, the law. Which I give People's respect for that -- I have a thing with role-reversals in stories. Hackman was great, though wasn't he essentially the same character in The Quick and the Dead?
Richard Harris was short lived in the film. His character, English Bob, was really less as prominent in the film as I was lead to believe. His name is on the cover for crying out loud!
And now I'm finally to Eastwood's directing. It's was alright. Had it been his first time directing, I would have been impressed, but since he's had an extensive record of directing, it's okay. Nothing spectacular, though I still need to see his other films as well.
All-in-all, I was sorely disappointed in the film; there just seemed to be much missing throughout. If you're either an Eastwood or Western fan, I say watch the film at least once, just to have an opinion. But other than that, you probably don't need to see it.
The Final Call:
7/10
7/10
