Kevin Costner has the right sort of demeanor for Westerns; he's good at playing a loner, a man of few words. He looks believable on the back of a horse, with the permanent squint that comes from looking out into the endless horizon of the open plains. In Open Range, he thankfully leaves behind the vain pretensions that sabotaged his performance in The Postman. This is his first trip behind the camera since that famous debacle, and it is refreshing and almost surprising how good it is. He clearly loves the genre, and the care that he's taken in telling this story is equally evident (especially considering that he paid for it almost entirely out of his own pocket). Rather than attempt another grandiose epic, he has made a film that is simple and compelling, and a good Western need not be anything more than that. The wide, empty vistas of the title can make even the smallest gestures epic all by themselves.

He also doesn't place himself at the forefront of the screen this time; Robert Duvall gets top billing as Boss Spearman, a free graze rancher in the years after Civil War. Costner's character, Charlie Waite, has been his right hand man for ten years, long enough for them to have abandoned the positions of employer and employee, but short enough for them to still have secrets they keep to themselves.

The early scenes in the film let us get to know these characters, and the two young men they've hired to help them as they take their cattle from one end of the country to the other: Mose (Abraham Benrubi), an overweight fellow who handles the cooking and the wagon, and Button (Diego Luna), a rambunctious sixteen year old who is anxious to prove that he's not as irresponsible as he often acts.

Spearman and Waite set up camp near a small town. They send Mose to purchase supplies; he doesn't return, and they discover that he's been put in jail. They learn that the town is under the rule of a vindicative rancher named Denton Baxter (Michael Gambon), who personally explains to them that he didn't come all the way from Ireland to see his land trampled on by free grazers. He orders them to move on; they decline, and during the night Mose is murdered and Button is shot and left for dead.

In short order, Spearman and Waite return to the town and make it known that they're going to seek justice. They know they'll be outnumbered, they know there's a good chance they'll die, but they know it's the right thing to do. The beleagured townspeople know it, too, and there are a few who make an effort to help; Percy (Michael Jeter), who offers them his stables, and Sue Barlow (Annette Bening), the sister of the town's doctor. She takes care of Button, and lets the two cowboys spend the night at her house. The next morning, they face off against Baxter's men.

The conflict is simple, perhaps, but Costner draws it out -- not to the point of excess, but enough to make just about every moment count for something. The movie takes a while to get where it's going, but it also doesn't waste any time. It has something that a lot of films lack: patience. There are many long shots where the characters travel across the landscape, and they remind us that back then it took days to cover a distance that now might take a few hours.

There are many conversations where little is said; but what is said is vital, and we get the sense that the times dictated a clarity and directness that has been lost today. When the characters say things, they don't need to repeat themselves; this is not the kind of film where the dialogue stands out, but that doesn't mean that every line isn't precise and important. I particularly liked the way we learn about Waite's background; other films might have hinted at his past early on, and made it a more prevalent part of the character. Here, it's brought up when it needs to be, and though it's not forgotten, it's also not lingered upon.

Because Costner lets things build so well, by the time the showdown occurs, he's entrenched us in the situation, and it is truly suspensful. The odds are of course against them - a dozen men against two - but when the shooting starts, those two take the upper hand with almost shocking swiftness. The shootout is long and exhausting, and fought by people who know what they're getting into. Spearman gets hit early on and thinks little of it; as long as he's not dead, he's still going to fight.

Like Costner, Duvall's finest performance has also been rooted in the old west; his portrayal of Gus in Lonesome Dove is as quintessential a cowboy as one could ask for. Duvall is such a gifted actor that the character never once seems like a retread, but there's also a wonderful familiarity to be found in seeing him in this setting once again.

Now, during the long night before the shootout, a romance develops between Waite and Sue Barlow. It almost goes unspoken, and I think it almost would have been better if it stayed that way; Bening's performance is good, and her open desire for a husband is touching, but the denoument is bogged down with too many professions of love. However -- I'm willing to forgive this for one specific reason; there's a short moment, right before the shooting starts, where Michael Jeter's Percy reads Waite's makeshift last will and testament, that almost made me cry with its sincerity and simple beauty. Without the love story, this scene could not have existed, and Jeter, a wonderful character actor who passed away some months ago, would not have had the chance to end his career on such a lovely note.