Based on the book of the same name, All the Pretty Horses stars Matt Damon and Henry Thomas as two cowboys heading south of the border for a little excitement and change of pace. Unfortunately, they aren't familiar with Mexican customs, formalities, and the legal system - landing them in a bit of trouble more than once. The first of Cormac McCarthy's 'Border Trilogy,' All the Pretty Horses was at one point over 4 hours long, but eventually shortened for a release time of just under 2 hours. However, after sitting through this painfully slow movie devoid of emotion and true acting ability, it would most likely have been better off at four hours because it wouldn't have been chopped up as much as the final version was.

I've heard the ads touting Damon's performance as 'the best of his career,' and while it may be true, it's really no great accomplishment. Heck, put any actor next to Penélope Cruz in this movie and they'd be made out as a genius. She was cold, unemotional, and tense throughout, as she didn't put one ounce of effort into her performance, save for once scene near the end of the movie. The one bright point of the movie was young Lucas Black as Jimmy Blevins. He showed great maturity in his performance and was a delight to watch on screen. Unfortunately, young Lucas was the one high point of a film that features mainly long, drawn-out scenes interspersed with scenes that appear cut-up and compressed.

The film was meant to be an epic tale of love, betrayal, and revenge and might have achieved that purpose at four hours, or maybe even three as director Billy Bob Thornton wanted, but cut up into a two hour film, it loses all epic status and fumbles around for two hours trying to find the right combination of love, betrayal, and revenge. The main driving force of this movie is the love story between John Grady Cole (Matt Damon) and Alejandra (Penélope Cruz), but as stated above, the romance fizzles with the minimal effort put in by both actors. Left without a story of love and betrayal, it becomes a story of revenge, and thus the focus is on young Lucas Black. He alone is the reason that the review rating is even remotely positive (above 5). I hope to see more of him and would strongly urge Billy Bob to not undertake bringing the last two books of the trilogy to screen.

Genres: Drama, Romance, Western
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 115 minutes
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