Call this "the night of Best Picture winners starring Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman," I guess. Unforgiven has a reputation that precedes it, so unlike with Million Dollar Baby, I actually went into this with very high expectations. And the movie may or may not have delivered; it's too early to tell. My chief criticism is that although the movie didn't have an absurd running time (two hours and change), it still felt way too long. I attribute this to a pointless character in the beginning of the movie who did nothing to advance the plot or create atmosphere for the main characters (Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman). In fact, the vast majority of the action and suspense came in the final twenty minutes of the movie. Which means the first 110 minutes kind of dragged and made me wonder why this was such an acclaimed movie. Clint Eastwood's character, "Munny," was certainly extremely memorable. But Morgan Freeman's wasn't, at all. In fact, I already can't remember one specific line of dialogue or facial expression from Morgan Freeman, and I only stopped watching the movie like fifteen minutes ago. So for the second straight time, he really added nothing to an Oscar-winner. Strange. Anyway, I can't say I love this movie, but then again, I have trouble appreciating Westerns. And that's strange too, because I've got no trouble appreciating cowboys and gunfights and the like. Oh well. I'm just glad to have another Best Picture crossed off my viewing list and another chunk removed from my movie backlog. Eleven films remain along with all five seasons of The Wire.
Damn, this is one of my favorite movies, although I'll admit I am a huge fan of Westerns and would probably blow Clint Eastwood if asked. I'll admit a lot of the charm probably came from him just doing what he hadn't really done since the 60s and it certainly has the deliberate pace of a 60s Western. But I'll definitely admit, that pace is a lot slower than most of what's come out in the past two decades.
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