So much average

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Ok. Background. I'm a Sephora junkie girlie girl. And I love this movie. For me, this is an important caveat. This is not just a guy movie. It's ridiculously good and the "I'm your huckleberry" scene is one I can watch over and over transfixed. Val Kilmer is that good. This is Val Kilmer at his best. Kurt Russell is phenomenal and tell me a movie that Sam Elliot sucked in. I dare you. Because he's awesome in everything. Guys ultimate movie? Yes. Women? Well, if they're not moronic vacuous creatures, yep, they'll love it. Or they should anyway.

I was a child of the 1960s; my Dad grew up watching "Westerns" at the theater. He in turn introduced my brother and I; "Westerns" like the iconic movies featuring John Wayne; Alan Ladd ("Shane"); Gary Cooper; Burt Lancaster; the original "The Magnificent Seven" movie; I could go on. After I got older and with the advent of the Clint Eastwood "Spaghetti westerns" I presumed good movies of the genre was of days past. Then I saw this. I knew Kirk Russell from his body of work, likewise other cast members, save Val Kilmer, was not that familiar with his body of work. If you are a fan of the "Western" movie genre, welcome home. This one will take you back. Thanksgiving day, 1996, my Dad sat on the edge of his seat watching this and smiling. This was the last "Western" he saw before he passed 1.5 months later. But my being able to play this for him and his enjoyment, gave me as much if not more enjoyment than the movie itself. If a GOOD Western is what you want, look no further. Some pretty decent others have followed, but cannot, nay, could not touch this one.

Labeling this biopic-based western epic directed by George P. Cosmatos a classic may feel somewhat of an overstatement, but with engaging storytelling by Kevin Jarre and lively performances by such a likable cast (most notably Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer); it almost feels like one. With the Golden Age of Hollywood several decades in the rear-view mirror and the glory days of western actors like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood in the past, it seems the livelihood of the western genre has been slowly dying out with a progressing shortage of memorable or even engaging westerns outings looming year after year. However, this 90s biopic centering on the story of western lawman Wyatt Earp shows good proof that though the western genre is running low on fuel, its not out of the game yet. Set in the 1800s American West, this film tells the story of former lawmen Wyatt Earp (played by Kurt Russell) who has set to retire from law enforcement duty and settle down in the old town of Tombstone, Arizona where he reunites with his old friend Doc Holliday (played by Val Kilmer) and his brothers: Virgil (played by Sam Elliot), the town marshal, and Morgan (played by Bill Paxton), the town sheriff. Everything in town goes pretty peaceful, that is until a gang of corrupt outlaws lead by the ruthless Curly Bill Brocious (played by Powers Booth) arrive in town and cause tyranny. With the lives of their loved ones threaten, Wyatt and his gang must pick their guns back and serve justice against the unlawful gang.What do you come to expect when hopping aboard the western genre? Bearded men in ten gallon hats? Gunslingers engaging in violent shootouts? Thick Southern accents? As common tropes they are, they all of these happens to be here. But director George P. Cosmotos has much more engaging aspects to offer here than the usual western conventions. Based on an inspiring screenplay by Kevin Jarre partially based on true events, the film boasts a gripping biopic story with mostly solid pacing and charismatic characters, and ventures through the harsh odyssey of former lawmen Wyatt Earp and his call for heroism when the ones he loved become the target of corruption and the life he thought he left behind comes back to grab him by his throat. This all comes down to some bloodshed conflict between his town and the ruthless outlaws of the wild west who threaten to tear him apart. This is not to say the story doesn't offer moments of levity and humor in the midst of its overall solemn atmosphere, particularly from Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday who sprinkles in some comic relief. But the murderous outlaws are not only trouble Wyatt is gutted with, he is also caught in the unexpected love triangle with his narcotic common-law wife Josephine Marcus (played by Dana Delany) and Matty Blaylock (played by Dana Wheeler-Nicholson), which forms to a subplot this story sadly leaves underdeveloped and less dynamic than it should have been. Overall, the story is a spectacle. Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer are both genuine and highly rigid in their roles, and the chemistry these leads show is equally moving, though nothing in the Oscar territory, nothing remotely disappointing. Sam Elliot and Bill Paxton are fine, but quite as memorable as the former duo in the performance department, nor is Powers Booth as the gun-slinging antagonist with a thirst of blood.Tombstone is a beautifully engaging western epic with lively performances by Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, and boasts a powerful, if flawed direction by George G. Cosmatos and a gripping script by Kevin Jarre. Though this film may be not be what I consider a masterpiece, there are plenty of reasons why this film is worth your time, even if the western genre doesn't quite spark your interest.

Supposedly the original script of Tombstone had fully fleshed out lives and motives for even the smallest of secondary characters but which had to be cut for budgetary and time constraints. But in Fraker's dusty, deep focus shots of the bustling western town we get an inkling of this ideal anyway. The church sits in centre background like it did in My Darling Clementine, but here it is not a redemptive, restorative symbol and instead something to be burnt down and cursed. Townsfolk mill about in the distance, on foot and on horseback, and shootings erupt and cease fire like they are an everyday occurrence. There are those classical wide shots of posses riding furiously across the everlong plains, and those sunset silhouettes of caravan travel (that usual motif of the death of the west, the steam engine, not yet appearing). And who knows how long the crew had to wait to capture those shots of the red scarf billowing in the wind of the lightning storm in that frightful ambush? What better to play over the closing credits then the best sequence of the film, where the four 'tall drink of waters' approach the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. They are dressed in black, and stride so confidently like the role of bringers of death that they have taken up, like undertakers ready to their duty (the thespian's description is rather apt). We know from their moustaches their history easily; Sam Elliot's iconic weathered one, grey with age and experience and good intentions (we react exactly as he does to a mother's scar). Paxton's thinner, younger one, who is most obviously the only of the brothers to not have killed a man. And Russell's whose is thick and in its prime, but reluctant and looking for a new life. Cosmatos (in reality Russell) takes his cues from Leone in the climatic build-up to the shoot-out. But the best performance undoubtedly belongs to Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday, who is electric as the long-time friend of Wyatt Earp. His tuberculosis does not hinder him; it in fact makes his sweaty face and his steady drawl even more menacing along with his eyes that seem alive in contrast. His gaze is steely and his wit unmatched - we cheer along with the bar's patrons when he mocks Ringo's quick-fast skills with the pistol with his drinking cup. And we know exactly where his loyalties and intentions lie when he fiercely objects to Wyatt's claim that he has no business here: he has not many friends, but once gaining that title it is for life. There's a curious element that goes mostly unexplored here. These men are more concerned with gambling and money and guns than they are with the arts - Cowboys shooting at a stage performance manages to be comedic and frightening at the same time. And in a symbolic blow, Mr Fabian falls later to more fatal shots, but Josephine is hurriedly moves on to the next arc of her life. Not even the gorgeous Dana Delany and her little shake of the head as she proclaims upon seeing Wyatt for the first time "I want one" can really save this subplot from veering into Hollywood cliché; it seems a little too coincidental for them to bump into each for a flirtatious horse ride and picnic, and the ending is too cheesy on the backdrop of such dramatic events (the director's cut ties up some loose ends, including the fates of Big Nose Kate and Mattie Blaylock). And some of the action sequence are a little sloppy and rushed - the river's end for Curly Bill, and the montages of the posse finishing off the Cowboys. But of course right on cue, the credits remind us how good it is at its best.