Review of Open Range

Introduction

Sergio Leone, John Ford, Fred Zinnemann and Clint Eastwood made some of my favourite westerns with the likes of Once Upon a Time in the West, The Searchers, High Noon and The Outlaw Josey Wales. Eastwood really was the last proponent of such genre filmmaking until Kevin Costner came along.

Unfortunately westerns are a dying breed. You only have to look at the ones that were made in the last 10-years or so to see that there`s increasingly little money to be made at the box-office. The most notable and popular westerns of the 90s (early 90s!) include Unforgiven, Tombstone and Costner`s own, Dances with Wolves. That Open Range was made in the first place was not without its problems, and after raising the required $26m budget, went on to make about $60m at the U.S. box-office. DVD sales will push this up a little so it`s not too shabby a performance.

Video

Presented with a 2.35:1 widescreen enhanced transfer, Open Range looks very good. Colours are vivid and natural, detail is reasonably high and there`s hardly a speck of dirt to be found. Compression levels are good and I couldn`t spot any problems with the transfer itself other than it appearing a little soft. I`m not sure if this is intentional, but despite it, Open Range is a pleasure to watch.

Audio

This region 2 DVD has Dolby Digital 5.1 only whereas the region 1 DVD features a DTS track. Can`t tell what difference this would make as the Dolby track here sounds very good. Dialogue is clear from the front, bass is rendered well and ambient sound such as the thunder comes through well from the other speakers.

Features

If it`s one thing that irks me a bit it`s the DVD menus that have clips of the film running in the background. Not a good way to start the film for those that haven`t seen it. Despite this, the menus are easy to navigate and a lead to a handful of extras.

• Audio Commentary - Kevin Costner provides an interesting, insightful and enjoyable commentary from start to finish. He speaks openly about the film, specific scenes and gives some history/background into the settlers of the period.

• America`s Open Range (12:44) - This is an interesting history lesson about the open range, the settlers and its people. Narrated by Kevin Costner he paints a fascinating picture of a bygone era of cattle drivers, cowboys, and life, and made it something that I liked.

• Deleted Scenes - 12 deleted scenes, 3 without a Costner introduction. It`s all much of a much ness as far as deleted scenes go and only mildly interesting.

• Storyboarding Open Range (6:36) - David J. Negron was the storyboard artist for the film and this little extra shows the level of his involvement in helping to plan the shots and help the crew visualise Open Range. There are scenes side-by-side of his art and the final shots too which makes for interesting watching.

• Broken Wagon (music video) (4:30) - This isn`t a music video in the traditional promo sense, but rather behind-the-scenes of the film put to music. Semi interesting.

To me this is disappointing. The region 1 disc gets more, and not just a few featurettes more, but something seemingly more satisfying. A 65-minute documentary about the film and a DTS soundtrack. I wish we had these, or at the very least the documentary. Despite this, every extra here is the identical. Open Range has English subtitles.

Conclusion

This wasn`t a film I caught in the cinema and I did wonder at the time if I would bother seeing it at all. It`s a western. Yawn. After seeing it on DVD though I was taken by surprise; I think Open Range is very good. The theme of integrity, honesty and revenge is woven well into the script giving us a different setting altogether; I found it quite stimulating.

The simple premise of the film is elevated significantly by the experienced cast; the performances of Duvall, Costner and Bening are understated and spot on. Michael Gambon, the town`s kingpin, performs well, but his muddling Irish accent doesn`t and sometimes detracts. The sub-plot love interest with Annette Bening is another well-handled aspect as it doesn`t interfere with the main story and when it is in prominence, it`s deftly handled without being overly sentimental.

With a running time of just over 2-hours however, the film does feel a little longer than expected. Costner`s extra 10-minutes or so of indulgence at the end shows and could have been left out or executed differently. It`s a minor distraction added to an otherwise absorbing film and one that I really enjoyed. Up until those last few scenes the pacing was spot on.

While not on the grand scale of something like Dances with Wolves, Open Range manages to tell a gripping story and entertains. Kevin Costner hasn`t been this good since Dances with Wolves and he certainly shows skill when it comes to direction. Scene composition, thanks no doubt to some hefty storyboarding, looks great.

Before you head off to see it, ask yourself if you want 1-disc or 2. If you liked the film and are looking forward to a DVD with a good range of features, then perhaps you might consider the region 1 DVD. It has 2-discs, a DTS soundtrack, the 65-minute documentary, "Beyond the Open Range", as well as all the features of this region 2 DVD. If you`re not bothered about such things and like a western or two, then Open Range is well worth checking out.