Appaloosa

Ed Harris scores yet again with his new movie, "Appaloosa," adapted from the novel by Robert Parker.

Harris directed, starred in and co-wrote the screenplay to what can only be described as a new classic Western.

"Appaloosa" also co-stars Viggo Mortensen, Renée Zellweger and Jeremy Irons.

The action kicks off when the local sheriff from the town of Appaloosa goes to collect two men wanted for rape and murder from rancher Randall Bragg (Irons), whereupon Bragg proceeds to shoot them so quickly that it made me jump in my seat.

Soon thereafter, mercenary lawmen Virgil Cole (Harris) and Everett Hitch (Mortensen) show up to answer the plea of the town leaders.

The duo convince the town leaders rather quickly that if they want to rid their town of Bragg, they need to sign over all power to Cole, essentially making his word the law.

Cole and Hitch then proceed to dispense their own brand of justice throughout the town, but do so in a way that doesn't require tons of pointless action scenes.

Next on the docket of stars is the surprising character that shows up with Zellweger as Allison French.

Of course, a woman always has to enter the story to mess things up a little bit. Mrs. French has a habit of wanting to be with the "number-one stallion," as Hitch puts it, which throws in a whole different twist.

What I liked about the use of her character was that she isn't some pointless love interest for the main character, but actually drives the plot and becomes a key point in the climax of the film.

It's not an action movie by any standard. The killing is very short and to the point. The key to this film is the development of the characters.

Harris's Cole is a man who wants so badly to be seen as intelligent that he's constantly asking Hitch what the word he's looking for is. Hitch always delivers a word that would be considered to be intelligent by the standards of their time, and even a bit in ours.

Mortensen's Hitch is a very interesting character. His weapon of choice is an 8-gauge double barrel shotgun, which, if you don't know a lot about shotguns, packs a wallop that can knock a full grown man to the ground.

It's clearly visible that this is so because every single one of the jackets worn by Hitch has a leather pad sewn in to the shoulder.

The best part of this character is his attachment to his best friend, Cole, and his obvious love for him.

Finally, we have Irons's Bragg. Now, everyone knows that Irons has that amazing voice with the British accent.

Most would recognize his voice as that of "Scar" from "The Lion King," which is why it was so strange to hear him with an American accent.

It threw me for a loop at first, but I got used to it as the film progressed.

Really, the best part of Bragg is how intrinsically evil the man is, but how he can get away with almost anything.

Overall, "Appaloosa" is a fantastic movie for those who love the Western genre.

I'll warn you, however, that if you're looking for a film that's all action, you won't find it here.

If instead you want a movie about fantastically fascinating characters, I don't even know why you're still reading this. Go see it already.