Far and Away

Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Thomas Gibson, Robert Prosky, Barbara Babcock, Cyril Cusack, Colm Meaney, Michelle Johnson, Wayne Green, Jared Harris, Clint Howard, Brendan Gleeson
Directed by: Ron Howard
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Adventure, Romance
1992

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Two Irish citizens (Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman) flee to America, where they reluctantly work together to try and start a new life.

Review:
Tim: It's so exceedingly difficult to pinpoint exactly where Far and Away goes wrong. It's never a bad movie, but a deeply flawed, lackluster one. All the right ingredients are here. It's an epic story (2 hours, 20 minutes) about two individuals and the cultures (Irish, American) they try to navigate through to obtain a better life. The story spans Ireland, New York, and the wild west. It features two bona fide movie stars in Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. It's directed by one of the all time greats in Ron Howard. And yet, there's nothing great about this movie. Not anything at all.

From early on, the film just feels so hollow. Maybe some of it is due to Cruise's attempt at an Irish accent. Maybe some of it comes from the story itself. It also felt to me that Howard didn't feel as close of a connection to the material or the characters as he needed to have. It's a film that feels like it got away from him. It was early enough in his career that although he had some true successes, he'd never quite tackled a movie of this scope. I never got a sense that Howard was in control of the story. It's more like he set up the camera and the story kind of ran away on its own. I believe that when directors are at their best, you can see the mastery in every frame- it's beautiful, a vision realized on screen. That's not the case here. Howard seems overwhelmed by the material and can't quite wrestle anything exceptional from it. I know this is just my opinion, decades after his attempt. I've seen enough of Howard's work to know what he is capable of and to recognize how far below it this movie is.

I can't say I ever really cared about the characters here. They appear most identifiable in relation to worse people around them. I never cared about Cruise's character, but at least he wasn't one of his brothers, or the thugs he joins in New York City. Kidman's character was at least braver than the rest of her family and more virtuous than most of the women they connect with in New York, but I didn't have much of a rooting interest in her story, either. Howard never frames these characters the right way, to build an emotional connection with them. That's odd, especially when he has so much time to do it and the film so prominently features these two. I have to acknowledge that Cruise and Kidman are to blame as well. They were early in their marriage here and still figuring out their talent. Both their accents aren't great and it felt like they were too unfocused in their roles. Both give at least solid performances and you can see the effort put forth- but the roles felt too big for them. They never give us a reason to care. They certainly had fun filming the more intense exchange between their characters- you can see that spark on screen. However, the film is too long for us to not really love these characters, and in the absence of that, it feels exceptionally long.

While I didn't like the movie all that much, I acknowledge there were some really good moments throughout. I felt like the early scenes in New York, as Cruise becomes a boxer were quite engaging. Howard seems to finally start to build momentum at that point. The Great Land Rush was epic- the scale of that scene was incredible. Howard felt more comfortable in that big, visual moment than in all the quiet, intimate moments throughout the remainder of the film. That scene eventually falls into too much melodrama, but there's some sincere excitement early on. Cruise and Kidman do have multiple worthwhile exchanges throughout the film. Their performances were never great, but there were fun moments. I always like seeing Robert Prosky, and Colm Meaney added a great supporting performance. There were definitely some strengths here.

As a whole, however, Far and Away is a disappointment. You don't make a nearly 2.5 hour epic like this without some aspirations of greatness. It's a big swing and a fairly big miss by Howard. It's telling that a movie like this received 0 Academy Award nominations. That felt right. This isn't a great movie, it's not even a good movie. It's decent, but flawed. I can't say I enjoyed very much of this movie at all. Watching it was a chore, a task to be completed. It's an absolute miss for everyone involved. Thankfully, there's enough talent here to avoid a complete disaster. Still, there's no excuse for this movie not being better than it is.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Missing, Cinderella Man, Cold Mountain