One of the very first films I reviewed when I started blogging was Kevin Costner's "Open Range" (2003) which from memory I wrote that Costner was nearly very good in a well-thought out movie, since his early appeal has always been something of a mystery to me. The only one of his films that I truly enjoyed was "Field of Dreams" way back when. He has always had a touch of the Kirk Douglases about his movie persona with a strong "look at manly me" conceit. However in this film he was not only at long last playing his age, but his heroics did not seem completely phoney.
He plays a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, past the usual retirement age, who loses a close associate in a disastrous rescue and who is also badly injured. Refusing to retire, but unable to continue this work in the short term, he agrees to be the chief coach at the l8-week course for new recruits. His hard-ass approach is unconventional, dismissing some of his charges within the first day, but he whittles the youngsters down to a well-qualified, gung-ho group. Foremost amongst the trainees is Ashton Kutcher. Again, as I have written previously, his early appearances in movies left me very cold to say nothing about his Demi Moore attachment, but after "The Butterfly Effect", I realised the boy can act, despite appearing in some disposable garbage in the meantime. He is very good here as the overly confident ex-champion swimmer whose past holds the secret of why he has chosen his new career. Between them,the two actors kept me watching what turned out to be an exhausting, overlong action movie, but the growing affection between the two leads made for a memorable climax -- even if it did end up again mythologizing Costner.
Parenthetically here, let me add that I also "saw" Kutcher in his voice-only role in the animation "Open Season" (2006) a few days ago. While I normally have a soft spot for animated movies, too many of the recent ones try too hard, to the extent that they lose their charm. In this one Kutcher voiced a one-antlered deer and I can confidentally state that it is the first time I have ever been asked to watch a cartoon animal poop! Thank you but no thank you.
2 comments:
Cartoon poop? Every kid's dream come true.
The Guardian.....I'll have to look out for that. I do like Kevin Costner, that slow speaking voice he has. Loved Field of Dreams and I also liked Waterworld, which didn't get the best of reviews and went way way over budget. I found that one long, it could have been done shorter and less costly......but I liked it :) Rache
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