Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
You may be unexpectedly surprised..., 25 Sep 2000
I'm glad that I have the chance to be the first reviewer of this movie, for in general it was considered as a failure both for S Stone and S Raimi to resurrect style and hype of spaghetti-westerns.Despite its several flaws (like numerous annoying shots of the main characters' eyes staring intently at each other to enhance suspense, Ms Stone's at times blank face when it should reflect stronger emotions, some characters so bad and revolting that they make you chuckle), I've seen it for the second time and it made me grab my chair in childish excitement.The plot is stark simple (see above, but in short a dozen rascals participating in a lethal shooting contest till last man standing), as well as the reasons driving the main characters to participate in the murderous contest: Ms Stone - to avenge her father, the Kid (L d Caprio) - to win his father's respect, Herod (J Hackman) - to keep townsfolk submissive and to teach his best and repented "pupil" Cort (R Crow) a lesson of abeyance, others - for money (but they don't matter). True, leading actors carry out the plot on their steady shoulders: * R. Crow emanates sexual charisma and suppressed prowess (long before world wide fame as macho Maximus the Gladiator) even if he spends all the movie shackled and beaten. ...*L de Caprio is well into the shape of boyish and outside haughty/inside weak-trying-to-prove-he's-better-than-his-father, long before downpour of post-Titanic fame. *J Hackman isthe perfect scoundrel,ageing scavenger, full stop. As to * Sh Stone, she remains one of the sassiest and talented actresses for me(praise her, fore she spends 2/3 of the movie rather disheveled), despite several movie flops she's participated in. She's carried her role well, with mixed feelings of despair, indifference and revulsion (at least I can't imagine any other actress in this role). The end is unexpected and is not a usual annoying happy-end. What more do you need? Watch and enjoy and don't compare this movie with any earlier masterpieces. ...it may count S Raimi's best movie so far.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I hate westerns, so why do i love this one? - by EML, 8 Jan 2002
By A Customer
Blimey.
Sam Raimi does it again, and makes a great movie from very poor pickings. His innovative direcorial style and creative minimalist use of SFX make this a surprising visual treat.- His cinematographer must have been working hard to get the lighting right on 99% of the shots, as most of the movie is shot outdoors. -the more money in the kitty, the more external shots.
Stone isn't a strong lead, but is well supported by her co stars, Hackman, Dicaprio, and Crowe in his first Hollywood role.
The film is typical of the nineties, i mean when have you ever seen a decent female cowboy in a mainstream Hollywood movie?- Political correctness enters the movie making arena!
As is always the way with Raimi, good and evil battle it out, while neither side are particularly complex, it's still fun predicting the outcome.
The slightly cliched costume choice and the (at times) cheesy dialogue do not hamper the film as much as you might think, and the steamy scene between Crowe and Stone makes it even more appealing. (Producer Stone actually put production on hold to wait for Crowe to finish filming in Oz)
Memorable for the gender role reversal, seeing a woman get tough, and most of all, the amazing clean teeth of the goodies, compared to the blacked up teeth of the baddies!
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
entertaining comic book style Western , 11 Jun 2006
Sam Raimi was still untamed by Hollywood, and determined to be as innovative as possible, when he did this Western. The overall memory you will take away with you, is not the performances (which are fine, but hampered by the shallow characterisation in the script) but the distinctive angles and point of view shots that made the Evil Dead series so memorable.
The story is stolen from a number of different famous spaghetti Westerns - virtually everything you see could be described as an homage to one spaghetti Western or other, such as Sharon Stone's motivation, which is almsot straight from 'Once Uopn a time in the West. Even the music has Jews harps and cracking whips... Sadly, the effect is only to remind you that they don't make them like they used to. ...
The story is uncomplicated - Sharon Stone is the (wo)man with no name who rides into town bent on revenge, with the town mayor (Gene Hackman) in her sights. Hackman rules the town with an iron fist, and he has organised a gunfight competition, bringing the fastest shootists around to win the cash prize. Also in the competition are his son (Leo deCaprio) and unwilling participator The Preacher (Russell Crowe).
Sharon Stone had a producers role here, and isisted on the casting of then-unknowns Leonardio DeCaprio, and Russell Crowe.. the casting alone is enough reason to buy this film. Gene Hackman gives a menacing performance, and Stone is OK, but truth be told unconvincing in the role.
In short, this is a wild ride of a film, with lots to enjoy in the acting line-up and highly stylised visual look. Just don't expect something thought provoking - This is a comic book style version of a Western.. it's ironic that Raimi had an even more comic book style here than he did in Spiderman! Well worth its budget cost for the curioisty value..
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