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Irishman Colin Farrell plays Jesse James, a former Confederate
soldier who arrives home from the Civil War to find not only
Union troops running his town, but the railroads forcing farmers
off their farms to make way for progress.
Together with his brother Frank (Gabriel Macht) and cousins
Cole (Scott Caan), Bob (Will McCormack) and Jim Younger, Jesse
sets out to stop the rail barons by stealing all their money
from the banks.
This brings the ruthless and clever detective Alan Pinkerton
(Timothy Dalton) into play and a fine set of cat-and-mouse
adventures ensue between the baddies and the goodies (or baddies
and baddies, depending upon your viewpoint).
The film's basic story of the James-Younger gang - his family,
the gang, his marriage - is pretty accurate although there
are many instances of Hollywood hype rearing its ugly head.
And Farrell's James is played as a polite Robin Hood figure
rather than following the official view which is of a bankrobber
and killer whose early end was as much as he deserved. Still,
by all accounts he loved his wife and his kids, so he can't
have been all bad.
One inaccurate part of the movie is the portrayal of the
James brothers as being excellent shots - both were notoriously
bad.
The cast is excellent with Farrell being very likeable,
Macht is possibly the pick of the bunch as older brother Frank
and Ali Larter is both fiesty and gorgeous as his love/wife
Zee.
The support actors are very good - although Dalton's Scottish
accent was a bit up and down for my ear.
Transfer-wise, American Outlaws is very good with
good clarity and sharpness. The sound, however, is terrific
and you'll have minie-balls whizzing around your head just
as if you were being shot at. The use of the surround speakers
is excellent.
American Outlaws is not a history lesson, but it is
a really good action adventure with some damn fine gunfights
and a lot of humour. Well worth sitting down in front of.
Conclusion: Movie 80%, Extras 80%
Continued:
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