Who is in this? Wow!
Silverado is an interesting tale from the old west. It’s a story where four men cross paths, each with their own burden following them, and band together to bring justice to a very unruly city. It’s your typical old west hero film and for the most part it’s quite stunning.
Armed with Kevin Kline (as Paden — a man we’re introduced to with literally nothing but his undies), Scott Glenn (as Emmett — the anti-hero of the group who is tough and smart), Kevin Costner (as Jake — the hotheaded young gunman who is quick to pull the trigger (he’s in trouble the first time we see him)) and Danny Glover (as Mal Johnson — a man who is shunned because of his color, but needed to succeed ultimately); that’s just our main heroes. There are also appearances from John Cleese (who plays a very corrupt sheriff), Jeff Goldblum (who is just sleazy) and Brian Dennehy (who plays the main antagonist). Can you believe they packed these guys into one film? What’s even better is that all of these egos do their job perfectly. The four main characters share the screen beautifully and evenly. It’s one of those times where the actors believe in the story so much that they understand the importance of developing their characters and playing nice with each other. Each actor took their character and from the first moment you met them you understood what type of person they were. For example, when Emmett finds Paden in the middle of the desert sleeping with his head propped on a rock, you understood that Paden had done something seriously wrong to get there. To reinforce and reveal this, when Paden enters the town with Emmett and Emmett gives him money; Paden uses it to buy a gun to get the guy who put him in the desert. It’s a pretty powerful statement on how good Kline’s character is with the gun and his mind. Each character is introduced and developed within the first five minutes of their onscreen presence; you simply can’t find that in enough films these days.
As for the story itself, it’s an 80s motif that a gang of weak personalities band together to form a solid piece of justice. Almost every 80s film has this conclusion; it’s very odd. The story works well though, as you’re quickly introduced to all the characters and their situations. The characters end up putting their strengths together to defeat an unstoppable force in the town of Silverado. The build and development of the story is impressive, but I think somewhere in the middle it becomes long in the tooth. When revenge gets involved (see Emmett for details) it seems to get off-track a bit. By the end of the film it comes back together, which makes everything fine.
Cowboys in HD (not the football team!)
The true beauty of the film for me was the gorgeous landscape of Santa Fe, which was the backdrop for Silverado. Almost every shot of the film seemed to capture the glory, and sometime the emptiness, of a new land. The scene when the boys are in John Cleese’s town in the dead of winter is nothing short of bone chilling. It’s very similar to the end scene in Pale Rider where it’s near sunset and you can just feel the cold air. All of this is enhanced thanks to a great HD upgrade via blu-ray for Silverado. You experience all of the landscapes that Silverado offers you. If the actors weren’t there you would swear that you’re taking a tour of the West in high-def.
As for features on this blu-ray, here’s what you should expect:
– Movie IQ: Live in-movie information about the cast, crew, music and production
– Along the Silverado Trail
– A Western Historians’ Commentary
– The Making of Silverado
– A Return to Silverado with Kevin Costner
– Gorgeous blu-ray booklet
– BD-Live
All of these features are solid. They help give you a different view about what the crew/actors were thinking when the movie was in production. It’s all solid material. I particularly like the in-movie information; I’m always a huge fan of that. Now, one thing that Sony Pictures and Warner Brothers seem to do well is make their older movies really spruced up with a hardback shell and an information booklet inside. The booklet is gold for classic films. You get a completely bio of each actor and their character. You get some great inside information about the production. There’s just a ton of things they include in the reading material provided.