A bit of a disappointment since I was expecting it to be one of the best films of 2005, but it still ended up being a gritty and superbly-acted modern western. The film is split into four acts, but it's really just two halves. The first half is interesting, yet it jumps around too much between characters and time periods that one gets completely lost and begins to misunderstand where he's even at in the film's sequence of events. The second half is completely linear but ends up being very dull and filled with meaningless plot devices like a snake bite and an old, blind man who just wants someone to kill him. But don't get me wrong, the film definitely has it's fair share of good points as well. The acting is superb. Everyone from Tommy Lee Jones to Barry Pepper to January Jones are incredible, though none of them really shines above the rest of the cast. The cinematography is also top-notch and does a great job of setting up the ambiance and scenery for a film as bleak and dull in tone as the life of a border patrolman is. Overall it's just a run of the mill film that tries some new tricks with the screenplay and completely gives that up in the second half, for good reason.
