Tombstone

Year: 2004 Rating: R Overall Evaluation: 9.0 Significance Suppositions Story Style 9.0 / 10 7.0 / 10 10.0 / 10 9.0 / 10 Click HERE for evaluation criteria.

Style

Rated R for violence. There is a lot of language as well - but not really gratuitous considering the subject.

Story

Wyatt Earp and his brothers along with Doc Holiday move into Tombstone to settle down and get rich. Of course they cannot, because the town is run by a group of outlaws known as The Cowboys. Various run-ins ensue and soon there are dead on both sides. Wyatt wages a war on The Cowboys - not for vengeance, but for a reckoning. The story is well told and does not leave out good character arcs and details.

Suppositions

The movie's story, hero, and sidekicks are very believable characters (at least within this genre). And while this is a revisionist telling of the story of Wyatt Earp (I am sure of the details or how much liberty was taken with the true history - probably a lot), as far as westerns go this sort of thing is to be expected.

Significance

Not only does this film blatantly attack evil, it does so in a way that does not exalt it. In a time when many bad guys are almost attractive, this film draws the line between good and evil fairly clearly. Yes, some of the good guys were criminals themselves - but not so much during the film's story. True friendship, willingness to sacrifice for the greater good, justice versus revenge, marital devotion in spite of a bad relationship - all of these virtues are dramatically displayed and applauded.