ThiefHott Too much of everything

GazerRise Fantastic!

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

FountainPen Ray Winstone deserves the "Steven Seagal Gold Star Award for mumbling in a low voice". Absolutely awful... did the director tell Winstone to speak unintelligibly, or was he too chicken to tell him to SPEAK UP and SEPAK CLEARLY? Also in this fil, again we have the dull Brad Pitt playing the part of a violent, vicious IRISH thug. The Irish accent is a broad caricature (I'm part Irish, btw). This flick is so bleak, with ao many long, drawn-out scenes. I simply could not finish it, had to eject the DVD. And thank God for subtitles, or I would not have been able to catch more than 10% of what Winstone slurred. NOT RECOMMENDED. 2/10 because there are some worse flims and because John Hurt lifted this crud a little.

Leofwine_draca This is a modern-day western which shocks the viewer with its heady doses of on screen violence and enthrals the audience with a simple, effective plot line. Essentially, the story involves three brothers and the lawman trying to bring them to justice; it sounds straightforward on the page, but Nick Cave's screenplay works hard to establish characters and the result is a film with fully three-dimensional people. It's hard to find anything to criticise about this production; everything, from the technical qualities to the acting, ranges from the above-average to the excellent. There's a truly haunting soundtrack which accompanies the excellent cinematography, showing the harshness of the Australian outback, and the eerie, desolate atmosphere is second to none.The violence in the film is brutal and shocking, coming in short, unexpected bursts. It's also original, with little in the way of stand-offs and shoot-outs. This is a film where people are painted in shades of grey and everybody has to face the repercussions of their own actions. Ray Winstone gives the standout performance as the violent lawman who kicks the plot off; he seems to be a villain, but the film soon reveals his humanity as well, and he steals every scene with his powerful performance that's full of emotion. Guy Pearce is the nominal hero, and he's far from attractive: lean, almost half-hearted, and hairy and dirty, his is the iconic man-with-no-name type role. The movie has fun showing his character, keeping the audience guessing as to his true intentions, and his actions at the end are great – this film ends on a real high with a fitting climax that just works and works. Emily Watson is also very good and moving as Winstone's put-upon wife.Of the rest of the supporting players, Danny Huston excels in his small role as the violent elder brother; John Hurt has fun hamming it up in a cameo appearance as a bounty hunter, and David Wenham plays snivelling evil as a moustachioed pencil-pusher. Essentially this film stands as a series of iconic images and set-pieces, some of which are burnt into my mind even now: the aborigine's head exploding against the skyline, the brutality of the climax; the whipping scene, which is much less gory but somehow makes more of an impact than the one in THE PASSION OF THE Christ. Altogether this is a stylish, excellently-made modern-day western with plenty of reasons to be watched.

mike3386 I did not read any of the other reviews until I finally wrote my own . . . have wanted to do it for years, but am intimidated by the scope of this 2005 movie, from the acting, to the haunting scenes, all the way to minutia that is impossible to get out of your head. There are things in this movie that you cannot un-see or un-hear. Whether you ultimately love this movie or not, you'll never get it out of your brain.Americans make the best movies, right? Well, if that is your belief, this purely Australian/British ensemble will shake you to your core, from Director John Hillcoat all the way to the screenplay and music of Nick Cave, it is an Australian masterpiece.So, what stands out . . . I mean besides everything? The acting, the actors. If you want to see professionals, from famous to unknown, ply their trade, watch and listen, you're about to go on an actors' hayride.Let's pick one, to me previously unknown actor Tom Budge. One of those performances where every time he is on the screen, you want to turn to every other viewer and ask, "Did you see that?!? Were you listening, watching?" As a dirty, vile little scumbag of a character, he left his mark on cinema in this movie.Other fine performances? OMG, all of them, but how could you possibly overlook that Australian of all Australians, David Wenham? A perpetual favorite in so many Aussie settings and by so many other actors from down under, e.g., Nicole Kidman. His dialog is so precise, so contemptuous that just listening to him makes the viewer want to spit, to get the awful taste out of their own mouth.Summary: A movie for movie lovers, a violent and haunting travesty of mankind at its absolute worst . . . and best. Don't miss this one. I'm 70 and I've been watching movies since Scarlett enchanted us all. Let "The Proposition" haunt you.

Rob_Taylor Whilst by no means a terrible movie, The Proposition adds nothing to an already done-to-death genre, namely Westerns.The plot is thin and could have made an acceptable TV episode, but instead its spun out into a movie with the addition of pointless travelogue songs and the occasional (not occasional enough!) bouts of philosophy and drivel spouted by some of the characters.The backstory to the characters is almost non-existent. We are told they are a band of ruthless outlaws and degenerates and their crimes are hinted at, but never shown. This is at odds with the rest of the movie, which gleefully shows the effects of violence with gusto.None of the characters are particularly likable, which leads the viewer to not really care one way or the other whether they live or die. And, when you don't care about the characters, it's hard to care about the movie as a whole.The Proposition is slow, uneven and filled with well...filler. At the end, I was glad it was finished so that I could go and get on with something more interesting and rewarding.SUMMARY: Tedious and unsatisfying. Watch Unforgiven, or Deadwood for more visceral and intelligent Western drama. This one is really not worth the effort.