Theodore Roosevelt coined the phrase: “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” While Appaloosa is your everyday western, Viggo Mortensen is no ordinary actor. Mortensen’s Oscar-class performance as Everett Hitch was masterful as a poetic yet fierce officer of the law. He “spoke softly,” but his big stick was an 8-gauge shotgun.

Co-starring with Mortensen is the movie’s director, Ed Harris, who plays Virgil Cole, a rugged yet honest and no-nonsense lawman who is a little more hawkish than his loyal partner.

Together, Cole and Hitch are a dynamic duo with an easy rapport and a pair of hired guns, traveling throughout the Old West and keeping the peace in small towns for more than a decade.

Staying in line with the standard theme of westerns, there is a rancher (played by Jeremy Irons) who is on one side of the law, and a couple outsiders who are on the other. Caught in between are the citizens of a small mining outpost who live at the mercy of one person and seek the assistance of the other to “get our town back.”

Oh, and there is also a lonesome woman who just came to town with no money and manages to wedge herself into the lives of the heroes…and the villains. In this case, that woman is the passively aggressive Renee Zellweger (who plays Allison French).

The movie plays out like any old Western, though this time it is the rancher who is the villain. Randall Bragg (Irons) — powerful, smooth, and cunning — lives just outside the New Mexico mining town of Appaloosa. He ignores the law and lets his men cause havoc.

Bragg starts the flick with a bang — literally — when he murders the sheriff and his deputies for trespassing on his property and “threatening” his men.

Appaloosa’s civic leaders suspect foul play but have no evidence to link Bragg to the crime. The only solution is to hand over the reigns of law enforcement to Cole and Hitch.

As new marshals, Cole and Hitch immediately target Bragg, building a case against him and his men.

Only a few days on the case, French arrives in town with all but $1 and a few personal belongings. Cole takes an immediate liking to her because she is not like the other “squaws and whores” he’s met. Fittingly, French responds, but only because she is attracted to men of power — a fact pointed out throughout the movie.

Naturally, French’s shenanigans put Cole and Hitch’s loyalty for each other to a test, though, predictably, their loyalty is so strong that even a flirtatious woman could not come between them.

As in all westerns, Appaloosa’s plot is straightforward, yet what carries the day is the chemistry between Mortensen and Harris. Playing Hitch, Mortensen is horrifically convincing as a cool customer who is not only intelligent but quick on the gun and knows when to pick his battles.

Harris’s character feeds off Mortensen’s performance, adding a nitty-gritty cowboy style to balance out Hitch’s poetic style and calm approach.

Irons manages to round out the threesome, adding a sense of charm to his villainous character.

Witty and humorous dialogue, well-staged gun battles, and an eclectic supporting cast which includes Timothy Spall as Ed Harris’s father, Appaloosa manages to entertain. However, the main attraction is Harris and Mortensen who deliver strikingly powerful performances with keen interplay.

Appaloosa is rated R for strong violence, language, and brief nudity. It opens in select theaters on September 20th. Running time is 114 minutes.