the audience applauded

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Continuing my plan to watch every Tom Cruise movie in order, I come to Far & Away (1992)Plot In A Paragraph: A young Irish couple (Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman) flee to the States, but subsequently struggle to obtain land and prosper freely.Cruise teamed up with director Ron Howard for what should be a slam dunk for the the pair of them, but it ends up being a total misfire. It's not all bad, it was a personal project for Howard and nobody can fault Cruise for trying something different, it does look visually impressive, but the story is not that good of believable (so much comes down to chance and coincidence) and the dialogue is poor, as are the accents on display.It takes awhile to get used to the Irish accent coming from Cruise's mouth, who is totally miscast, he was far too old for the role at 30 (he is repeatedly called "boy") but at least he is understandable, which is more than can be for some of the other cast early on. Nicole Kidman (in her second and last movie with her now husband) once again doesn't offer much to her role and Robert Prosky is such a cliché, it's awful to see such a good actor wasted in such a role. In fact the cast may not be the movies biggest problem. Whilst the idea is certainly a decent one, the script is weak and the dialogue is often ridiculous. It does have some things going for it!! As I said earlier it's visually impressive. The Oklahoma land rush is beautifully shot and looks great and has John Williams ever produced a bad score.I had not seen it in 25 years, and I remember a different ending. I won't go in to spoilers, despite the movies age. Far & Away grossed $58 million at the domestic box office, to end the year the 21st highest grossing movie of 1992. His worst performing movie for quite some time. Luckily he didn't have too long to dwell on two under performing movies in a row.

"Far and Away" is an American attempt to combine British-style "heritage cinema" with a traditional Western. The film opens in 1890s Ireland. On the day of his father's funeral, young farmer Joseph Donnelly is evicted from his land because of unpaid rent and home is burned down by his landlord's men. Joseph vows revenge, and makes an attempt to kill his landlord Daniel Christie. He fails, but his attempt sets in motion a chain of events which lead to Joseph running off to America with Christie's daughter Shannon. On arrival, he works for a time as a prize- fighter in Boston, and eventually they take part in the Oklahoma Land Run of 1893 (an event which has also featured in other films such as the two versions of "Cimarron").The film's main problem is that the story is full of plot-holes and most of these derive from two incidents, the burning of Joseph's house and his attempt to kill Christie. It is never explained why Christie's men would have wanted to burn the house, which after Joseph's eviction could have been let to another tenant. Christie later protests that the burning was done, without his knowledge or consent, by his land agent Stephen Chase, but does not explain why he has not only kept in his employment a man guilty of arson against his employer's property but also continues to regard that man as a desirable suitor for his daughter's hand in marriage. (Chase, possibly based upon the notorious Captain Charles Boycott, is the real villain of the film).Joseph's attempt to kill Christie is not in itself improbable as Joseph had plenty of reason to hate him. It does, however, raise the difficult questions of why Christie should seemingly bear Joseph no animosity during their subsequent meetings and of why Shannon should first have run off with, and later have fallen in love with, a man who had tried to murder her father. Why did Chase challenge Joseph to a duel? By the 1890s duelling was going out of favour in the British Isles, but even when it was in favour no gentleman would have challenged a social inferior to a duel. (Chase would undoubtedly have regarded an illiterate peasant-farmer like Joseph as his inferior). Why would an obviously wealthy man like Christie, who after emigrating to America has enough money to live in luxury as a rich Boston gentleman, have wanted to abandon that life in favour of becoming an Oklahoma farmer? And why would an intelligent and well-educated woman like Shannon have been unaware that the Land Run was being held in Oklahoma? (She seems to imagine that she only has to step off the ship in Boston to be offered free land).The stars are Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, the cinema's official Golden Couple of the nineties, in their second film together. It would be true to say that in neither case is this their best film, but then in neither case is it their worst either. If Cruise does not quite reach the heights he scaled in some of his films from this period, such as "Rain Man", "Born on the First of July" or "A Few Good Men", at least he does not slip back into the brattish, cocky screen persona which had been his stock-in-trade for much of the eighties, and Joseph comes across as surprisingly sympathetic for a would-be assassin. I will leave comment on his accent and Kidman's to those more familiar with Irish dialects than I am. I was not, however, impressed with some of the supporting cast, especially Robert Prosky who seemed unable to decide if he should play Christie as a lovable old rogue or an outright villain. Visually, the film is an attractive one with some striking shots of the Irish landscape, and Ron Howard does a good job as director; the scenes of the Land Run itself are particularly well put together to make a stirring climax. A favourite trick of his is to film the action from above, as if seen by Joseph's father looking down from Heaven. (Joseph often refers to his belief that his father is watching over him). Little expense seems to have been spared in recreating the Ireland and the America of the 1890s and, unlike many period dramas, this one is not littered with historical inaccuracies; about the only goof I spotted was that old chestnut, too many stars on the American flag for the date at which the action takes place.Roger Ebert said of "Far and Away" that it is "a movie that joins astonishing visual splendour with a story so simple-minded it seems intended for adolescents", a sentiment with which I would concur. When so much attention has been paid to other aspects of the film, it is a shame that so little was apparently paid to the script. The plot has more holes than a colander. With a better storyline my mark would have been considerably higher. 5/10

In 1892 western Ireland, tenant farmers are rebelling. Joseph Donnelly (Tom Cruise) loses his father during an incident with the landlord. Their home is burnt for overdue rent. He seeks revenge on landlord Daniel Christie (Robert Prosky) but his gun explodes. The landlord's daughter Shannon Christie (Nicole Kidman) wants to be Modern and get 160 acres of free land in America. She grabs Joseph from a pistol duel with the cruel henchman Stephen Chase (Thomas Gibson). She takes him on as her man servant on the journey. They find out the land is in Oklahoma, but she loses all her valuable spoons in Boston. They are penniless as they meet the ward boss Mike Kelly (Colm Meaney). He gains some worth as a bare knuckle boxer. Meanwhile a mob burns down the Christies mansion and they travel to America to follow Shannon. Eventually it ends in the great race to claim land in the Oklahoma Territories.The movie is beautifully shot by director Ron Howard. However the story is convenient and simplistic. It's as if Ron Howard wanted to check all the boxes of the era for the Irish. Everything feels manufactured. There isn't a real moment in the movie especially the pairing of Kidman and Cruise. There is no subtlety in their performance or the romance. It's not as problematic the first time around but it really annoys me with more viewings.

Despite the big names attached to this movie, I have to admit it's quite cheesy. Although the historical aspect of the film is impressive--the sets, costumes and supporting characters were well-planned--the story is slow, cliché and hideously boring. The leads drag the story down with their juvenile arguments and resentments, then consequential attraction to one another. The film only worsens once the leads fully realize their attraction and can think of nothing but reuniting, even as Cruise's character rides a mining company train and Kidman's character travels with a band of covered wagons. The worst is saved for last, when Cruise's character is laying on the ground after a fight, appearing to be dead (Kidman is sobbing, for goodness' sake), only to open his eyes and wake up. Cue the cheesy music and the disastrous ending is complete. If you are forced to watch this movie, then appreciate it for the historical aspect--not for the acting, script or plot.bitesizemoviereviews.blogspot.com