Wild Horses

Not much to be said about this film, though concerning the lives of a Texas Ranger involving ranches and features horses. One would know what this film is about from the trailers and overall tones. The film is a slow paced drama which are good at times but the directing, writing and acting aren't too great. The best scenes involve those with Robert Duvall and James Franco together, while the worst (and a lot of screen time) involves the Ranger character of Sam.

The acting here was clear she wasn't much of an actress with her tone and delivery (Her accent was noticeable). She was miscast and her scenes dragged the film down. Also poor acting from the Hispanic mother asking about her son, and a few of the thugs. The climax and overall 'reveal' of the film was very weak, as it just so happens and was dumb. The little subplots with the Maria character didn't really lead anywhere. Also with Josh Harnett's character and his wife, nothing amounted. As he wasn't used as much in the film as we thought we would be. The bright spots as mentioned were the performances of Duvall and Franco, and some nice scenes of the scenery. Wild Horses is a forgettable slow drama.

Having watched nearly all of this last night i felt i should air my opinion lol for what its worth, Having Franco,duvall,hartnett splashed all over the movie cover i though wow thats a great bunch of actors! But there was something so rotten that it killed off the quality that those actors brought to the film....Luciana Pedraza... Oh dear shes terrible. totally ruined the film her slow speech and her wooden acting killed this film for me. also the kid that played her son looked so uncomfortable it was making me cringe. just watch the first scene at the BBQ lol so bad. The fight scene outside the bar was a farce. Sorry but what a stinker.

The first part of the film was a little erratic, jumping abruptly from one situation to another. Not sure if that was intentional or if editing created continuity issues.

Also in the beginning some of the minor actors seemed to be quite literally reading their lines from a teleprompter that wasn't keeping up.

If you stuck with it, things did improve. Duvall both starred in the film and wrote it. He was, as always, excellent and I'm impressed that he (apparently?) came up with the story idea. Possibly he personally had some past demons he wished to put to rest.

It deals with a Texas rancher coming to terms with changing times, a need to address past wrongs and an attempt to reconstitute a family that his attitudes and behavior had torn apart. His efforts are not entirely successful in many ways and yet may have been the catalyst for some painful healing nonetheless.

James Franco was quite good. His acting is so much better when Seth Rogan is not involved. Maybe a hint of James Dean dealing with father-son alienation but with more understated drama. Josh Hartnett was also excellent.

It is not really a feel-good sort of movie, but there is a comforting sense that some things are changing for the better no matter how painful the process.

I haven't seen any of the other films Robert Duvall has written or directed. There aren't many of them and there's possibly a very good reason for this. The man is a very fine actor, no one could deny that, but perhaps writing and directing are simply not for him if 'Wild Horses' is anything to go by. The script in particular is an absolute mess. The dialogue often feels like it's been written for a 5 year-old and by a 5 year-old. The story is told in incredibly clunky fashion and none of the intended 'heavy' scenes have any effect whatsoever on the audience.

The directing is not much better. The actors all look completely lost in every scene. There's some very strange casting with the likes of Josh Hartnett and James Franco, but the strangest of all was Luciana Pedraza. She was so unbelievably bad in her performance I had to look up her IMDb profile just to see who exactly the hell she was - only to find she was in fact Duvall's sister-in-law, sigh! I can't imagine any other filmmaker being willing to cast her and yet I notice Duvall also cast her in his 2002 film 'Assasination Tango'. Perhaps he just makes a film every ten years or so with a role written specifically for her so she can pay some bills. Who knows, but it's really not a good look. An awful performance in an awful film. Nothing to see here.

Those seeking for a detective movie might be disappointed. Wild Horses is first and foremost a family drama, while the investigation part takes secondary priority. It provides solid emotional scenes, mainly thanks to the veteran cast and the personal premise, although the pace is unfortunately slow. It may not appeal to anyone since it will take nearly an hour before the momentum actually builds up, furthermore the crime element is considerably weak.

Story follows the sheriff from small desert town who opens a cold case concerning a missing boy. It happened fifteen years ago, so understandably it rattles some people, especially the Briggs family. It becomes clear early on that Luciana Pedraza as the sheriff is not in the same league as the rest of the cast, which is unfortunate since her perspective, while not in the same volume of the family's, is still crucial to the plot.

Additionally, there is very thin material for the crime aspect, it could have been skimped to minor subplot, yet the movie invests quite a lot on the police angle. The rest of the time is focused on dialogues in the Briggs family. The Briggs are very rich family and very patriarchy, they also harbors a lot of secrets. Duvall plays as Scott, the head of the family and he delivers a very convincing performance. He keeps the interest of his family first, although this might collide with the tragedy of the past.

Josh Hartnett has added depth on his character. He looks straightforward or rigid, but can also be passionately aggressive. The youngest son Ben is played by James Franco and he might be hust the nicest and honest amongst all. Between the three of them the acting is highly presentable, but since the screenplay consists of slow pace conversations, it can be tedious at times.

It has the good intention on delivering very private issue by the perspective of an entire family. However, the inconsistent delivery and tired pacing might not be refined enough to deliver the intended message.