Unforgiven could have been much better, but Clint Eastwood took some liberties that took away from what this film could have been.
First, he cast himself as the lead. His acting is so unemotional and dry when he's showing his emotional depth that it completely took me out of the movie. Honestly, I kept laughing every time he had an emotional scene. Everyone else was really great, but he was the lead, so it had a pretty big effect on the movie.
Second, his direction oozes cliches, not homages. His wide shots aren't beautiful, they are just wide. His choice is of lighting smacks you in the face with its evil vs evil theme. There's just no subtlety in any of his themes, which leads to my next point.
The pacing of the first two acts is way off. We all know the third act is going to happen exactly as we think it will. So when it does, it's cathartic, and fun to watch. However, the hints about the third act stretch on for way too long in the first 2 thirds of the movie.
The story is great, but Clint Eastwood's heavy-handed approach turns a great movie into a good one.
1 / 2 directing, technical aspect 2 / 2 story 1 / 1 acting 0 / 1 pacing 1 / 1 dialogue 1 / 1 living up to its genre 1 / 1 originality 0 / 1 lasting ability to make you think
-1 / 0 miscellaneous +/- point (for Clint's acting)
Review by schmenkyBlockedParent2016-05-31T23:35:04Z— updated 2017-03-10T19:54:10Z
Unforgiven could have been much better, but Clint Eastwood took some liberties that took away from what this film could have been.
First, he cast himself as the lead. His acting is so unemotional and dry when he's showing his emotional depth that it completely took me out of the movie. Honestly, I kept laughing every time he had an emotional scene. Everyone else was really great, but he was the lead, so it had a pretty big effect on the movie.
Second, his direction oozes cliches, not homages. His wide shots aren't beautiful, they are just wide. His choice is of lighting smacks you in the face with its evil vs evil theme. There's just no subtlety in any of his themes, which leads to my next point.
The pacing of the first two acts is way off. We all know the third act is going to happen exactly as we think it will. So when it does, it's cathartic, and fun to watch. However, the hints about the third act stretch on for way too long in the first 2 thirds of the movie.
The story is great, but Clint Eastwood's heavy-handed approach turns a great movie into a good one.
1 / 2 directing, technical aspect
2 / 2 story
1 / 1 acting
0 / 1 pacing
1 / 1 dialogue
1 / 1 living up to its genre
1 / 1 originality
0 / 1 lasting ability to make you think
-1 / 0 miscellaneous +/- point (for Clint's acting)
6 / 10