Written by Cormac McCarthy, the prize-winning novel 'All the Pretty Horses' has been made into a film by Billy Bob Thornton and stars Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz. The story is set in 1949 and goes around John Grady Cole (Matt Damon) and Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas) - two young Texans who are in search of a more meaningful and fulfilling life as cowboys in the western terrain. The two friends eventually start for Mexico in hope of finding some adventure and employment. On their way they run into Blevins (Lucas Black) who joins them. In Mexico, they work for a wealthy landowner (Ruben Blades) and eventually his beautiful daughter Alejandra (Penelope Cruz) falls in love with Cole, which upsets the relationship between the two friends. After a lot of adventure where the threesome's cowboy instincts are put to the ultimate test, Cole is desperate to resume their love affair.

Keeping this apparently non-disturbing storyline in mind, a lot of drama is presented in the movie! Earthy terrains, massive mountains and deserts – the movie has an untamed look to it and all this makes the depiction of the land right. The scrub land of South Texas and Mexico stretches out wide with boulders rising like tombstones out of the desert. A tale of survival, the movie is faithful to the plot and characters. However, it offers a difficult viewing experience, with too many bizarre things happening for almost four hours on screen. The characters play their part well. Lucas Black, as Jimmy Blevins, makes a remarkable performance and his boyish energy becomes the trademark of his character. Matt Damon and Henry Thomas in the roles of John Grady Cole and Lacey Rollins delicately depict the fragility that lies behind their western bravado.

The movie is unusually quiet, with lots of scenes where the threesome ride across the desert, horses gallop around the corral and prisoners mill around the courtyard of a Mexican prison. Even the romance between Cole and Alejandra is oddly quiet – as if there is a restraint in speech usage! The romance part has no pep to it and is slow, making the audience look for a fast forward button to the scenes. In all, All the Pretty Horses is an average movie – that neither evokes hope nor disappointment. So go to the theatre with an open mind, watch the drama, the beautiful Alejandra, the antics of Cole, Rawlins and Blevins .... and enjoy!