All the Pretty Horses (2001, VHS)

"All The Pretty Horses" is a journey that tries to evoke what it might have been like to travel in the old West. Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, Matt Damon stars as John Grady Cole, a young rancher in 1949 Texas forced to leave the land he works when his father dies and his mother sells the ranch to somebody else. When he is forced to leave, he and his friend, Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas), embark on a journey through Mexico. As they prepare to cross the Rio Grande, though, a teenager named Jimmy Blevins (Lucas Black) asks to tag along, and the men say okay, even though they have their concerns about it.

This move turns out badly. A deal goes wrong, and Jimmy is left without his gun or his horse. Cole and Rawlins urge Blevins to forget what happened, but he doesn't, and he returns to the men with his things, anxious to leave. They decide it's best that Jimmy travel separately from them for awhile. Before they can reunite, Blevins is captured by Mexican authorities.

John and Lacey continue their travels, and wind up at the ranch of Don Hector Rocha (Ruben Blades). Rocha asks the men if they know anything about a horse theft, and they say they don't. Rocha gives them work, and becomes impressed with Cole's knowledge of horses. Cole also takes a liking to Rocha's daughter, Alejandra (Penelope Cruz), and they begin a relationship, and Cole turns to Alejandra's aunt for advice on the Mexican way of courtship.

Rocha, however, had been alerted by the police to be on the lookout for Cole and Rawlins. The police eventually come to the ranch and arrest the men. It is while they are in custody that they learn just what Jimmy had done. In his effort to get back his horse and gun, Jimmy shot three people to death. Jimmy claims self defense to the authorities and to Cole and Rawlins, but the local police captain, Raul (Julio Oscar Mechosa), says that's not how the incident happened. He threatens Cole and Rawlins with the state penitentiary if they don't confess to being Blevins' accomplices. When it becomes clear that Raul can't coerce a confession from Cole and Rawlins, he loads up all three men on a journey to the prison. Along the way, Raul and his guards stop in the desert and execute Blevins.

In the pen, Cole and Rawlins learn more about the Mexican way of justice. Money can buy them a lot of things. It buys them protection when another inmate decides he wants to kill Cole. Cole buys a knife and kills the inmate instead. In spite of this incident, Rocha is able to buy the freedom of both men. Rawlins decides to head back to Texas, but Cole stays to settle matters with both Alejandra and Raul. Alejandra has been told to never see Cole again, but he wants closure. He also wants the three horses returned. When Raul refuses to cooperate, he sticks Raul in his own cell and releases a man who's been left there because he ran afoul of the local justice. Those actions help him get back to Texas with what he wants.

Director Billy Bob Thornton creates a slow and deliberate pace similar to the one he used successfully in "Sling Blade," but in "All The Pretty Horses," that pace kills the film. The heroes and villains also aren't nearly as compelling as they were in "Sling Blade," though Black (who co-starred in "Sling Blade") comes across well in his small role. He's a boy too far in over his head among men. He brings a sense of intimacy to his role that no other actor is able to accomplish in this movie. The other actors are okay, and you want them to prevail over any sense of "justice". They come across as distant, and are therefore not as interesting as Black in his role. The energy simply isn't there in the rest of the film.

"All The Pretty Horses" has plenty of that, but little else to recommend it. It's an adventure that says nothing new, fresh or interesting, in spite of a screenplay adaptation from Oscar winner Ted Tally ("The Silence Of The Lambs"). Perhaps Thornton, who won the award for his adaptation of "Sling Blade," had problems with this aspect of the story and deferred to Tally. Beyond the scenery, "All The Pretty Horses" wallows in banality. It's a journey I wanted to put behind me as much as John Grady Cole did.