Appaloosa
New Line Cinema | Release Date: September 19, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Appaloosa is gripping entertainment that keeps springing surprises. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Goes down like a single-malt aged for 25 years. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
If you're an actual adult who likes old-school Westerns, this won't disappoint you. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
A fine dramatic comedy with fresh characters, witty dialogue and a keen interest in how relationships must have developed among frontier folks, tyrannical ranchers, no-nonsense lawmen and -- oh, yes -- the complicated women on that frontier. Read full review
80
Film ThreatMatthew Sorrento
The romantic subplot dovetails wonderfully with Harris' tribute to the genre's golden age. The moral quest of taming the West always thrived if a lady could be won in tandem. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Beautifully photographed by Dean Semler, Appaloosa is the best Western since "Open Range" and shows there's still life in this most unfashionable of genres. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
What makes the movie absorbing is the way it harmonizes all the character strands and traits and weaves them into something more engaging than a mere 1-2-3 plot. I felt like I did in "Lonesome Dove" -- that there was a chair for me on the porch. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
First and last, Appaloosa is the slow-but-sure story of the friendship between Virgil and Everett, one a man of action surprised by emotion, the other a man of emotion surprised by action. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
An old-fashioned Western with all the classic elements -- buddy loyalty, stalwart heroes, despicable villains, plenty of gunfights and marvelous wind-scoured desert landscapes -- marked by some modern ideas about relationships. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Westerns often take themselves seriously and, while Appaloosa is no "Blazing Saddles," there's a refreshing vein of understated humor running throughout the production. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Most of the time, the movie is appropriately gritty and plenty engaging. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
It turns out to be a satisfying, if occasionally wandering, adventure. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
A warmly made, slightly offbeat movie about friendly devotion. It also happens to be a western, and every man in it is grizzled or wizened or both. Read full review
70
Village VoiceChuck Wilson
Harris and his collaborators are playing it straight with a timeless male fantasy--horse, hat, six-shooter--a traditional approach that will please moviegoers like my dad and yours. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Corliss
It's good to spend time with a movie that takes its time. Granted, Harris doesn't advance the genre; instead he burrows into it, finds a home there, as one might retreat to musty library stacks, where old pleasures and treasures await. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
In all, Appaloosa is good as far as it goes--everything in it feels true--but I wish that Harris had pushed his ideas further. Read full review
70
Washington PostMike Mayo
Harris and Mortensen may not have the combined star power to push Appaloosa to the level of popularity of last year's "3:10," but the film is every bit as enjoyable, and, for traditionalists, more measured. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This isn't a visionary western like "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" (2005), but in its own quiet way it delivers the goods. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A throwback to the age when Westerns were quaint. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
As with many other mediocre actor-directors, Harris' attention to the performances, including his own fine turn, has cost him in other areas. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorRobert Koehler
As director, Harris takes this classical sense of the western too far, though, until it seems that the movie is carefully trying to keep the genre alive. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
We've heard tell about the rebirth of the Western at least since Clint Eastwood's vicious, "Unforgiven" 16 years ago, but since the genre never truly died in the first place there's no need to flog that horse here. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Harris is a major asset in a film that is entertaining but somewhat unfocused and occasionally badly cast. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Appaloosa wobbles and wanders, promising to take a fresh look at those old myths, only to lapse back into weary convention. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
It's less a western than a loping buddy picture. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The movie's tolerant, good-humored view of its characters drains it of some dramatic intensity, but Mr. Harris seems more interested in piquant, offhand moments than in big, straining confrontations. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
The two men collaborate so well, in fact, that the real love match of Appaloosa is between the two of them and no one else. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Though the leads do fine work, their efforts often feel slightly futile. Despite a few flashes of the darker tone percolating under the surface, the movie remains too well-mannered to truly pull us in. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Harris' first directorial outing since his impressive and entirely different "Pollock" biopic bears echoes of many genre predecessors, especially Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo" -- but echoes they remain. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
If Appaloosa is something to look at, it's also unnecessarily lethargic. Even an intentionally slow-paced picture needs to have its own internal source of energy, and as a filmmaker, Harris can't quite get that motor running. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Mannered, episodic and slow. Read full review
25
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Played for Maverick-like comedy, the film might have coasted on Harris and Mortensen's dialogue. But played straight it's both dull and preposterous. Read full review
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