One of the films strengths is that it sometimes shows the same incident from two different character’s perspectives which help the audience to decide who they believe is in the right or wrong or build up a better understanding of proceedings. This however helps to add to one of the films downfalls which is the non-linear way the plot unfolds in the first act. I found myself confused for the first half an hour or so until I worked out who everyone was and what their place in the movie was. Once I’d figured out who everyone was, I then had trouble understanding what anyone was saying. The Spanish dialogue is subtitled but I could have done with subtitles for the mumbled Texan accents that were prevalent. At times I honestly had no idea what was being said.
The story is kind of interesting but I didn’t have enough
love for Tommy Lee Jones or Julio Cedillo’s characters to really care either
way and Barry Pepper’s Mike Norton is made out to be quite a nasty character so
I certainly didn’t care what happened to him. His partial redemption towards
the end wasn’t enough for me. I think that there was another film in there,
based on the relationship between Barry Pepper and his wife January Jones. The
acting on the whole was very good. Tommy Lee Jones as usual was great and Barry
Pepper showed greater range than I’d witnessed from him before. Even January
Jones was acceptable, the best I’ve seen from her too. Melissa Leo stood out
but her role was very small.
Tommy Lee Jones gave me no reason to think that he couldn’t
or shouldn’t direct again but there was no wow factor. He manages to get good
performances however and the locations are pretty. The film in general is fine
but I wasn’t very interested in the plot.
6/10
