This whole thing is spoilers really – as other reviews demonstrate, if you get to caring about the Swank character, you will be hugely disappointed, even hurt by this and it's one case where it might be worth knowing what you're getting into. It's written by, produced by, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones and therein lies the problem.
The start doesn't make a whole lot of sense. A bunch of frontier women (only women) simultaneously go mad and have to be taken back east. Meanwhile Hilary Swank is too 'plain' for any man to marry her. Take a look at her photo on the video cover and compare her with the married women of the community to see how ridiculous that is. Then it starts to build some steam. Her strong character ("You're as much of a man as any man around here," says the local preacher) takes charge and volunteers to do a job which none of the men can handle. She rescues Jones' character from being hanged and, despite knowing nothing about him, forces/bribes him to help her on the journey.
So far this has been pretty good, OK bleak and not always believable but, as usual, Swank's performance is quite brilliant, Jones does his usual uninspiring but solid job and the supporting cast do fine. Jones is directing well too early on, pacing things nicely and building an authentic feel. We have plenty to hope for, a character to care about, and a testing journey in prospect. It all goes wrong when the travellers run across a little girl's desolate grave.
Suddenly and for no reason the Swank character is transformed. She's been boss all along but now she's doing what Jones tells her, bursting into tears, then, absurdly, proposing marriage to this unreliable and somewhat decrepit old man and virtually forcing herself on him sexually. The only explanation: she's crazier than the wagon-load of women she's supposed to be looking after. Next, forgetting her passionately-delivered promises to the relatives of those women, she kills herself. This goes beyond shaky and ridiculous to pointless and unbelievable and we realise that this is not Jones' take on a strong woman, but just another self-absorbed and self-centred vehicle for a writer-producer-director-star. In fact it went wrong earlier than that when the Jones character was introduced. From that point on he shows little interest in the plot or the other characters – everything is there only to provided the foils to his lead.
I wasn't interested in Jones' rather dull and stereotyped playing of a dull, stereotyped character, nor in his self-absorption. I didn't watch any more, wished I'd never started watching in the first place and I hope this will help others avoid the same mistake.
The start doesn't make a whole lot of sense. A bunch of frontier women (only women) simultaneously go mad and have to be taken back east. Meanwhile Hilary Swank is too 'plain' for any man to marry her. Take a look at her photo on the video cover and compare her with the married women of the community to see how ridiculous that is. Then it starts to build some steam. Her strong character ("You're as much of a man as any man around here," says the local preacher) takes charge and volunteers to do a job which none of the men can handle. She rescues Jones' character from being hanged and, despite knowing nothing about him, forces/bribes him to help her on the journey.
So far this has been pretty good, OK bleak and not always believable but, as usual, Swank's performance is quite brilliant, Jones does his usual uninspiring but solid job and the supporting cast do fine. Jones is directing well too early on, pacing things nicely and building an authentic feel. We have plenty to hope for, a character to care about, and a testing journey in prospect. It all goes wrong when the travellers run across a little girl's desolate grave.
Suddenly and for no reason the Swank character is transformed. She's been boss all along but now she's doing what Jones tells her, bursting into tears, then, absurdly, proposing marriage to this unreliable and somewhat decrepit old man and virtually forcing herself on him sexually. The only explanation: she's crazier than the wagon-load of women she's supposed to be looking after. Next, forgetting her passionately-delivered promises to the relatives of those women, she kills herself. This goes beyond shaky and ridiculous to pointless and unbelievable and we realise that this is not Jones' take on a strong woman, but just another self-absorbed and self-centred vehicle for a writer-producer-director-star. In fact it went wrong earlier than that when the Jones character was introduced. From that point on he shows little interest in the plot or the other characters – everything is there only to provided the foils to his lead.
I wasn't interested in Jones' rather dull and stereotyped playing of a dull, stereotyped character, nor in his self-absorption. I didn't watch any more, wished I'd never started watching in the first place and I hope this will help others avoid the same mistake.