American Outlaws

American Outlaws is a fun look back and attempt to go back to the great westerns of old. While I would guess that this is a definite glamorization of the life of Jesse James. As a viewing audience we like the outlaws to be more Robin Hood in nature rather then terrorist. This ends up being an action packed movie that provides fun explosions, and great one liners. I was impressed that this movie was enjoyable and unlike other westerns in todays day and age they did this movie on a relatively small budget. American Outlaws though is very successful to give an epic movie feel on the small budget.

The cast for this movie for the most part are a bunch of younger rising stars from the time. With some great veteran actors to handle some of the heavier roles. Timothy Dalton plays the role of chasing Jesse James perfectly. You get the feeling that he understands why the James/Younger gang is doing what they are doing, and while he has to do his job of tracking them down, he seems to have a great respect for the gang and longs not to have to chase them down. Farrell does a great job as Jesse James, and gives a feel that he truly got into character and was natural in his role, but really for me Scott Caan stole the show. This is really one of his first major type roles that has led to a lot of other more major type roles.

For me I really enjoyed the music throughout the film. Trevor Rabin gives a great score throughout the film that really helps to set the mood. And while there are those out there that would complain that the music of Moby being in a western set in post civil war Missouri is inaccurate, I just have to say folks it is JUST a movie, meant to entertain and the music helps give a fun feel. The stuntwork was pretty amazing and there is one scene that is a lot of fun to see, just because it is one of those mouth dropping "wow" moments in a film. While this film did not have the strongest scrupt out there it was serviceable and because of that it makes a lot of sense that this movie only won some awards for the stunts.

This is a fun movie that does not try to do anything more other then to just give you great entertainment. It has some great action, some awesome old west guns, and some great one liners to give you some fun comic relief. While this is not a must have it is a definite fun movie and that is why I am giving it three buckets of popcorn out of five. Even with this movie not being a must have I would definitely consider adding this one to your movie collection if you can find a great deal on it.

-The Movie Man-