Hollywood usually loves the Irish and usually loves Westerns. This is a movie that could cause a viewer to hate the Irish, hate Westerns, and hate Hollywood.
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidmann affect the all-time worst Irish accents ever. Mr. Cruise was at the height of his career when this was made, and the audience is treated to virtual tour de force of Tom Cruise Movie Clichés, his rippling muscles, his abilities to outfight any physical superior and instantly master any required skill, and the volatile-but-misunderstood protagonist. In short, he is a living cartoon character. Particularly egregious is the sequence wherein our hero, never having ridden a horse prior, is able to suddenly master the meanest, most buckingest bronco EVER, within the context of an unfolding Land Rush and to overtake thousands of other more competent riders with trained steeds.
This cloying and sophomoric script is overladen with schmaltz and sentimentality. Cruise and Kidmann are unlikable from the start and grow more so throughout the film. There are no characters anywhere of sufficient plausibility upon which the viewer may anchor his suspension of belief.
This film contains every type of flaw characteristic of the early Ron Howard films, amplified and exaggerated, with none of the redeeming traits. (In fairness to Opie, I must say that later films such as Apollo 13 and Cinderella Man I found to be very well made and recommend them to my friends.) This film is almost a perfect parody of bad 1990's film. It would probably be a good double feature with 'Mr. Holland's Opus.' I saw this film in the theater back in 1992 when it was new and for many years it held the title as the all-time worst film I had ever seen (that title is now held by 'Hancock'; see that review for details). This is not the fun kind of bad film, such as an Ed Wood film. Rather, this film is unpleasant in the way that an evangelist sitting next to you on a transatlantic flight is unpleasant. The only sane reason to see this film would be if one needed to re-stoke the fires of one's dislike for Tom Cruise, and for that purpose, it would work well.
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidmann affect the all-time worst Irish accents ever. Mr. Cruise was at the height of his career when this was made, and the audience is treated to virtual tour de force of Tom Cruise Movie Clichés, his rippling muscles, his abilities to outfight any physical superior and instantly master any required skill, and the volatile-but-misunderstood protagonist. In short, he is a living cartoon character. Particularly egregious is the sequence wherein our hero, never having ridden a horse prior, is able to suddenly master the meanest, most buckingest bronco EVER, within the context of an unfolding Land Rush and to overtake thousands of other more competent riders with trained steeds.
This cloying and sophomoric script is overladen with schmaltz and sentimentality. Cruise and Kidmann are unlikable from the start and grow more so throughout the film. There are no characters anywhere of sufficient plausibility upon which the viewer may anchor his suspension of belief.
This film contains every type of flaw characteristic of the early Ron Howard films, amplified and exaggerated, with none of the redeeming traits. (In fairness to Opie, I must say that later films such as Apollo 13 and Cinderella Man I found to be very well made and recommend them to my friends.) This film is almost a perfect parody of bad 1990's film. It would probably be a good double feature with 'Mr. Holland's Opus.' I saw this film in the theater back in 1992 when it was new and for many years it held the title as the all-time worst film I had ever seen (that title is now held by 'Hancock'; see that review for details). This is not the fun kind of bad film, such as an Ed Wood film. Rather, this film is unpleasant in the way that an evangelist sitting next to you on a transatlantic flight is unpleasant. The only sane reason to see this film would be if one needed to re-stoke the fires of one's dislike for Tom Cruise, and for that purpose, it would work well.