American Outlaws

The Indiana Jones Version.

The legend of the James/Younger gang gets another outing in this fanciful actioner that's guaranteed to have history buffs frothing at the mouth.

It very much comes off as a Western primed for the MTV generation, a young spunky cast are assembled and the action kitchen sink is thrown at the piece where ever possible. There's lashings of cool on show, some sexiness, and the prime action sequences are exciting. Yet it just comes off as soulless, something emphasised by the awful score and soundtrack.

Acting is OK, particularly from Timothy Dalton as Allan Pinkerton, the man tasked with bringing down Colin Farrell's Jesse James - this whilst having a grudging respect for the outlaw - while Gabriel Macht puts...

SPOILERS AHEAD! "American Outlaws" is cinematic proof that the American public will watch just about anything, even a film that makes "Young Guns" look like "The Searchers."

Colin Farrell is Jesse James and Gabriel Macht plays his brother Frank. After the film opens with perhaps the most fun ever had at a Civil War battle, the Jameses and Youngers head home to Missouri. There, evil railroad executives have moved into the state in record time and are trying to buy everyone's land to build a railroad. Farms are burned, people killed, and the Youngers and Jameses have had it. After Ma James (Kathy Bates, here for the paycheck) is killed in an attack, the guys decide to stick it to the man by robbing banks where the railroad company does bu...