Open Range starts a little unevenly in my opinion. After the first five minutes or so I was more or less wishing that someone would punch Charley Waite (Kevin Costner) and Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall) and knock them out of their saddles. Initially, it seems as if they will only open their mouths to dispense some nugget of timeless cowboy wisdom. I don't mind that they don't talk much at first, or that the movie has a slow pace. Both of these choices were appropriate to the characters and the story. However, after the first five minutes I didn't particularly like three of the four characters who had appeared on screen, and I think the movie intends the viewer to like all four from the beginning. However, things definitely improved as the movie progressed.

In case anyone doesn't already know, this is not a fast-moving action thriller. It is a slow, often quiet and somewhat reflective Western. There is no serious on-screen action until the end. Open Range does not derive its quality primarily from doing anything new and creative in the Western genre, which would be next to impossible at this point anyway given how many Westerns have been made. Instead, Open Range does a lot of things that have been done in one way or another by other Westerns, but just does them better than most of those other Westerns. Costner plays a strong silent cowboy, and does it just about perfectly. Costner is sometimes criticized for not being a particularly expressive actor, but he is capable of investing meaning and depth in a character who is not very expressive. Robert Duvall also does well as the older cowboy Boss Spearman.

The plot of the movie develops through a conflict and ultimate showdown with Waite and Spearman on one side and a corrupt rancher and his group of thugs on the other. Against that background, as it were, there are two central themes in Open Range, one being the relationship beween Waite and Spearman, whose characters share some similarities but also have some deep differences, which emerge more as the movie progresses. This relationship is played out very well in a quiet and understated way. The other central theme is what happens to Charley Waite as a result of their encounter with Sue Barlow (played by Annette Bening). There is some good stuff within this latter theme about the centrality of family and the love between a man and woman to the very existence of civilized society. Beyond that, I will only say that in portraying this relationship Open Range gets more emotional meaning out of a tea set than I would have thought possible.

Open Range is rated R, and the USCCB rating is adults, but that is primarily because of the violence. There is some bad language in the movie, including vulgarity, obscenity, and profanity, as well as a couple of mild sexual references in the dialogue. There is also one disrespectful reference to God (beyond using God's name disrespectfully), which is done in a serious context of anger with God. There is also a brief scene with a woman finishing dressing, but that is all it is. As mainstream movies for adults go, Open Range is about as clean as it gets. It might be considered inappropriate for children, depending on their age, but I can hardly imagine that many children would be interested in seeing this movie anyway. In addition to the relatively slow pace mentioned earlier, only one character of any significance at all is young (all the three stars are over 45 in real life). The characters have the thoughts and emotions of adults, and relate to each other as adults. In the midst of an entertainment industry obsessed with youth, this is emphatically a Western made by grown-ups for grown-ups.