Open Range

"Boss" Spearman (Robert Duvall) is driving cattle, free grazing them as he goes, and gets stopped by a terrific storm. With him are Charley (Kevin Costner), Mose (Abraham Benrubi) and "Button" (Diego Luna) an orphan he's giving work having rescued him from scavenging.

When the storm breaks Mose goes to the nearest town to pick up supplies before they move on.

No good will come of this.

"All for what? A few more cows?"

This is a Western done with a 'realistic' eye. I'm not sure I'd want to call it 'revisionist' as it doesn't subvert any tropes: "Boss" and his men are generally 'well meaning' and they get into a confrontation with clearly 'bad guys'.

What Costner does excellently is make everything very grounded. The violence is slow to build and when it gets to shooting it's chaotic, messy, people miss a lot and force of numbers wins the day more than some awesome gunslinging skill even though Charley has a degree of that.

The stakes are believable, the townsfolk have real character and a hand in the drama rather than just cowering while the badasses strut about. It's very noticeable that during the denouement those not directly involved are watching from a distance like people do when violence happens. They don't just magically disappear unless needed as hostages or collateral damage.

There's a romance element with the ersatz Doctor (Annete Bening) that's well done and contrary to the run of things the age gap isn't older man pursuing a young woman.

Beautifully shot and well considered this is not challenging viewing but is a masterful take on very standard Western themes, 8/10.