FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

joecoby45 The Proposition is one of the darkest movies I have ever seen. Set in the outback Australia, The Proposition stars Guy Pearce as Charlie Burns. A man who has been sent by the local law enforcement (Ray Winstone) to hunt down and kill his older brother Arthur (Danny Huston) in exchange for a pardon for both him and his younger brother Mickey. The conflict escalates from their.The movie benefits strongly from breathtaking cinematography and mesmerizing performances all around. In particular Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, and Emily Watson are just magnificent as the main characters of the film. John Hurt also turns in an unforgettable cameo as an aging bounty hunter. The movie has a couple narrative problems, and there are a handful of scenes that feel unnecessarily drawn out or just unnecessary all together. Overall however the story manages to be compelling throughout especially thanks to its three dimensional, complex characters. The Proposition is a relentlessly dark film. Filled with graphic violence and many scenes where characters are either in physical or emotional pain. But its a compelling enough watch to make it worth sitting through. At least for me.

SnoopyStyle Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) and his younger brother Mikey are captured as sole survivors after a shootout with police Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) and his men. Instead of hanging them both, Stanley has a proposition for Charlie. If Charlie kills his feared criminal brother Arthur (Danny Huston), Stanley would give both him and Mikey pardons. Martha Stanley (Emily Watson) is lonely without her husband.It is dusty, dirty and brutal. Ostensively, this is Guy Pearce's movie with the two brothers. I find Stanley even more fascinating. Ray Winstone is superb. His character has so many layers and not necessarily the traditional police captain. It's a great example of Australian western.

JohnLeeT While this film is nothing extraordinary, Ms. Emily Watson certainly is and she is absolutely brilliant in what easily could have been a throwaway role. It was a fantastically imaginative casting choice by the director to choose Watson as what he probably wished would be more than the typical "frontier wife." He got much, much more as Emily Watson gives a performance of subtle sexuality, passion, and courage. In doing so, she does what she usually does and makes this film her own. It takes tremendous talent and incredible power for her to step forth from this group of male actors and in beautiful fashion demonstrate her exceptionality as an artist. She breathes life into what could have been a stale stereotype and sets fire to the screen in several stupendous scenes. The only problem is she is underused and the camera spends too little time on her glowing face and blinding cinematic presence. However, what she does with the camera time she is given is miraculous and for that reason this film is a 10. Watson is indeed the most powerfully talented and divinely gifted actor working in cinema today and she continues to astonish audiences with each succeeding performance in a way that no other actor can touch.

Robyn Nesbitt (nesfilmreviews) The Outback, as well as "The Proposition," is just as punishing and unforgiving as the men who roam it -- and it's savagely entertaining. The film takes all the familiar ingredients of the Western with an Aussie spin. Unlike your typical Western movies, it's much darker, downbeat, and brutally violent. Set in rural Australia in the late nineteenth century, Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) is a criminal living in the outback. He and his two brothers, Arthur (Danny Huston) and Mikey (Richard Wilson), are outlaws wanted for rape and murder. Arthur is a violent and dangerous cold-blooded sociopath, much more so than his siblings, and is wanted by the law. The authorities capture Charlie and Mikey after a bloody shootout, and the brothers are handed over to Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone), a British lawman sent to Australia to help bring order to the colonies. The Captain's proposition to Charlie is to gain a pardon for both of the brothers, by tracking down the elusive Arthur and killing him. Charlie scours the backwaters of Australia, but isn't certain if he can carry out his mission. A movie you cannot turn away from; heartless and uncompromising, filled with disregard to innocence and civility.One of the strengths of "The Proposition" is its relentless moral ambiguity. Characters that would be heroic in more conventional Western movies show their darker sides here. It's a tough and uncompromising story, but it's superbly written, features terrific acting on all fronts, and its beautiful cinematography captures this desolate landscape where only the strongest survive.