WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME MAJOR SPOILERS - DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN THE FILM
The first time I saw Far and Away I caught it about half-way through, and couldn't stop laughing at the brilliantly fake Irish "accents". Cruise in particular is a real leprechaun, so he is, begorrah, and the OTT "floating death scene" is risible.
I tuned in a second time for a laughterfest of colossal proportions, only to find I actually quite enjoyed it. It's not subtle, of course. Shannon (the very pretty Kidman) and Joseph (Cruise) are runaways from the horrors of Ireland, intent on making a new life in America. Opposites, their inevitable attraction begins when Shannon looks at Joseph's genitals from underneath a mixing bowl. This level of gentle symbolism continues with a scene where they secretly admire each other's arse, and concludes with Kidman asking "Joseph, am I beautiful at all?" In fact, their romance never seems to be based against anything other than their libidos, Kidman's character being a spoilt rich brat who merely likes a bit of rough.
The turn of the 19th century setting (1892-93 to be exact) is nicely evoked, though perhaps in all honestly the sets and clothes always carry an artificial air. There's some scenes of truly sickening violence as the film tackles the unusual subject for Hollywood particularly of bare knuckle fist-fighting. Colm Meaney plays a real meanie (sorry) who acts as Joseph's boxing manager. When Joseph loses a bout, Meaney takes the only option available to him gets Joseph beaten up, slaps Shannon around and steals all their money before throwing them out onto the street. The major villain though, is, predictably, English, with Nicole's estranged fiance (Thomas Gibson) following them to the US in hot pursuit.
Direction, while not bad for Richie Cunningham, is never revolutionary, but then the constraints of the story temper it with difficulties. Wherever the two go they always seem to be robbed, beaten or shot even Tom's horse drops dead the day he buys it. These two are so unlucky they'd get run over fifty times just on a trip to the chemist's. Why, maybe they shoulda tried kissing the wee Blarney stone for o' bit o' Irish luck, to be sure. Sorry, Tom Cruiseitis came over me there.
"All the land in the world means nothing to me without you", he says in one of the more nauseating lines. And when you see Tom die and yet miraculously come back to life because Nicole tells him she loves him, you'll realise that this film is a complete load of rubbish. Yet somehow, inexplicably, it's a very entertaining complete load of rubbish. 6/10.
The first time I saw Far and Away I caught it about half-way through, and couldn't stop laughing at the brilliantly fake Irish "accents". Cruise in particular is a real leprechaun, so he is, begorrah, and the OTT "floating death scene" is risible.
I tuned in a second time for a laughterfest of colossal proportions, only to find I actually quite enjoyed it. It's not subtle, of course. Shannon (the very pretty Kidman) and Joseph (Cruise) are runaways from the horrors of Ireland, intent on making a new life in America. Opposites, their inevitable attraction begins when Shannon looks at Joseph's genitals from underneath a mixing bowl. This level of gentle symbolism continues with a scene where they secretly admire each other's arse, and concludes with Kidman asking "Joseph, am I beautiful at all?" In fact, their romance never seems to be based against anything other than their libidos, Kidman's character being a spoilt rich brat who merely likes a bit of rough.
The turn of the 19th century setting (1892-93 to be exact) is nicely evoked, though perhaps in all honestly the sets and clothes always carry an artificial air. There's some scenes of truly sickening violence as the film tackles the unusual subject for Hollywood particularly of bare knuckle fist-fighting. Colm Meaney plays a real meanie (sorry) who acts as Joseph's boxing manager. When Joseph loses a bout, Meaney takes the only option available to him gets Joseph beaten up, slaps Shannon around and steals all their money before throwing them out onto the street. The major villain though, is, predictably, English, with Nicole's estranged fiance (Thomas Gibson) following them to the US in hot pursuit.
Direction, while not bad for Richie Cunningham, is never revolutionary, but then the constraints of the story temper it with difficulties. Wherever the two go they always seem to be robbed, beaten or shot even Tom's horse drops dead the day he buys it. These two are so unlucky they'd get run over fifty times just on a trip to the chemist's. Why, maybe they shoulda tried kissing the wee Blarney stone for o' bit o' Irish luck, to be sure. Sorry, Tom Cruiseitis came over me there.
"All the land in the world means nothing to me without you", he says in one of the more nauseating lines. And when you see Tom die and yet miraculously come back to life because Nicole tells him she loves him, you'll realise that this film is a complete load of rubbish. Yet somehow, inexplicably, it's a very entertaining complete load of rubbish. 6/10.