When small-town big fish Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) kills a sheriff and his two deputies, the town enlists the peacekeeping services of marshal-for-hire Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and his loyal partner Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen).
"Appaloosa" is an inventive twist on the Western by jack-of-all-trades Ed Harris.
Renee Zellweger is the film's big surprise as opportunist tramp Allison French.
Allison captures Virgil’s romantic imagination in spite of her wandering ways.
The dialogue is snappy, and the gun action kept on a realistic level, in an enjoyable western that plays with genre convention to humorous and dramatically satisfying results.
Jeremy Irons is miscast as the film’s politically driven baddie, but the easy rapport between Harris and Viggo Mortensen more than compensates for the minor misstep.
Rated R. 116 mins.