MAVERICK (1994) A Film Review Copyright Dragan Antulov 2000
Last year's WILD WILD WEST is something unforgivable and unjustifiable, but at least in the beginning it might have looked like a good idea. Five years before, another 1950s western TV series got itself revamped into rather successful summer blockbuster. This film was MAVERICK, 1994 western comedy directed by Richard Donner.
The protagonist of this film is Bret Maverick (played by Mel Gibson), gambler who is both skillful with cards and guns. He nevertheless prefers coning than shooting people, and such abilities will be needed when he decides to join great poker game which is held on Mississippi riverboat. But to enter this game he must pay large entering fee, so he must either collect all debts or find some ingenious ways to depart people from their money. In doing so, he would cross paths with Anabella Cranston (played by Jodie Foster), southern belle whose beauty is not spoiled by bad Southern accent or lack of scruples. While two of them join forces and travel to the boat, they are pursued by lawman and Maverick's old acquintance Zane Cooper (played by James Garner). All that would lead to whole series of adventures and encounters with various bizarre characters of the Old West.
Scriptwriter William Goldman probably envisioned MAVERICK and western version of STING - story which represents complex set of intrigues, twist and characters who constantly try to fool each other. However, his efforts failed for one simple reason - plot aroused very little interest in director Richard Donner, who instead envisioned film as series of elaborate and mostly humorous action scenes. Sometimes those scenes don't have much connection with the rest of film, in some segments they are slow and tendency to have as much cameo appearances as possible makes this film too long. But film is nevertheless saved by enthusiastic performances of Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster, two actors who obviously enjoy playing light-hearted characters for change. James Garner, who played Maverick in the original series, is very good in the role of Cooper, while Graham Greene is hillarious as Indian chief. All in all, despite the lack of plot and excessive length, there is enough humour for the audience to enjoy MAVERICK as unpretencious entertainment. Western fans would be additionally satisfied because MAVERICK with its light spirit is rather refreshing addition to the rejuvenated genre, represented with dark, depressive and revisionist films of the early 1990s.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
Review written on October 3rd 2000
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax Fido: 2:381/100 E-mail: dragan.antulov@st.tel.hr E-mail: drax@purger.com E-mail: dragan.antulov@altbbs.fido.hr
Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in Croatian http://film.purger.com
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