jeremy3 Review of Silver City

Silver City (2004)

Sayles' beautiful characterizations weakened by dull plot

[5/10 · 31 December 2007]

There was some great work by minor characters in the film. The actors playing Mexicans were very convincing and real. One had sympathy for the right-wing radio show host (Miguel Ferrer) being bullied by the bigwigs in the party for being a bit of an outcast. Kris Kristopherson gave a great performance of a cowboy-millionaire, who fancied himself as a man who made things happen (and could convince almost anyone that he was really justified in being the amoral individual he was). There was also a sincere performance by a miner, who became a manager and ended up paying bitterly for being the "yes man" to the mine owner - a large, amoral corporation with a powerful lock on the life of the entire state of Colorado. The problem was that, of the major characters, only Chris Cooper shines. He is obviously portraying Bush, and does an excellent job of portraying a naive man, struggling to express basic thoughts, and being adored and utilized by everyone who holds onto his cape in expectation of great fortunes out of his becoming governor. The main character, the private investigator, I never bonded with. He never really engaged me. I didn't really understand his appeal or where he was coming from. Darryl Hannah's role was incredulous. Is a beautiful woman like here in the 2000's just sitting around hoping for the next man in town to arrive? I don't think so. Tim Roth's performance was very blasé. The biggest disappointment was Richard Dreyfus' performance. His characterization was so one-dimensional and stereotypical that you couldn't really feel convinced by it. There were great moments of beauty in the film. I particularly liked when the town developer said in glee that he 'is going to build a city'. It shows exactly how and why people become so greedy and zealous about development and progress. They see themselves in the history books. The ending was sad. The fish floating in the water showed the fragility of life amidst the beauty of Colorado. However, even that message was severally weakened by the whole rest of the movie that led up to this scene. The movie disappointed me, because I was only moved at moments. The rest of the movie seemed rather pointless and wandering. This is a flaw that John Sayles is usually not guilty of. As bizarre and unique as the stories that Sayles comes up with, his plots are always cohesive and logical. Silver City is an exception to this.