The Horse Whisperer (1998) 1 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Robert Redford, Kristen Scott Thomas and Scarlett Johansson.
All the action in The Horse Whisperer occurs within the first five minutes of the film: A tragic accident while riding leaves one girl dead, costs another her leg, and severely injures a prize horse.
Unfortunately, the movie still has about two hours and 40 minutes to unspool, and most of that is taken up with picture-postcard scenery, and long stretches where nothing happens. Nothing, that is, except for a man staring at a horse, and the maimed and scarred equine staring back.
But this is no ordinary man. He's Tom Booker, the horse whisperer. He doesn't help people with horse problems. As he says, he helps horses with people problems. And this is no ordinary actor portraying this rugged individualist. It's larger-than-life, face-as-craggy-as-a-Rocky Mountain Robert Redford.
The Horse Whisperer is a pretty movie. Redford who also produces and directs the movie, based on Nicholas Evans' best-seller, must have incurred a fuel bill running into the hundreds of thousands. Every five minutes it seems a sequence segues into an airborne view, celebrating the vast landscape, the great outdoors, the beauty of nature.
OK, OK, Mr. Redford - environmentalist and conservationist - we get the idea. Open ranges, crystal-clear water and unpolluted sky, good.
Only after so many snowy peaks and rolling hills, it becomes tedious and repetitious.
Redford the director relies on Redford the superstar to carry the picture. This is the first time Redford has directed himself and, unfortunately, he just loves to watch himself do nothing. Of course, he looks sexy - even at 60 - standing in those worn jeans, cowboy hat perched atop his head, even though he is beginning to show his age, especially in several of his many close-ups
The script, adopted by Oscar-winner Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) and Richard LaGravenese (The Bridges of Madison County) is rife with homespun homilies. Redford's Booker talks like a cowboy Master Po from the old Kung Fu TV series rather than a real person. He is a saint, overly patient, infinitely understanding, and something of a bore. But so are most people who are too good to be true.
Kristin Scott Thomas as Annie, the driven magazine editor who drags her injured daughter and wounded horse to Booker's Montana ranch, is not a very likable character. She is a bit snobbish, demanding, condescending and thoughtless. Her transformation to all-American mom seems more plot device than a natural evolution.
Only Scarlett Johansson as Grace, the young girl trying to regain her life and spirit, is believable. She is petulant, sarcastic and rude - an ordinary teen-ager. But her gradual transformation seems more believable.
The developing romance between Booker and Annie appears forced. No reason is given for the supposed estrangement between Annie and her husband, Robert (a wasted Sam Neill). What could attract this laid-back cowboy philosopher to this self-absorbed woman is never made clear.
Redford is usually a no-frills director. Like fellow actor Clint Eastwood, his style eschews fancy camera angles and tricks. But for The Horse Whisperer, Redford has become self-indulgent. He takes his time telling his story. And it seems he has adopted the attitude that since he's Robert Redford, Icon, his audience will simply follow and accept this because he has something important to say.
To paraphrase a legendary show biz adage: If you want to send a message, call Western Union.
The Horse Whisperer, like Redford's A River Runs Through It, is a beautiful movie to watch, thanks to cinematographer Robert Richardson. But what the movie needs is a film editor who can stand up to its star-director-producer and convince him to trim about 45 minutes.
Evans' original story, as well as Redford's pro-Earth campaign, are lost in unending travelogue-like vistas of distant horizons, majestic mountain peaks and dazzling sunsets.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or cbloom@iquest.net
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