Fun to watch, if you suspend reality. Wow! So much action that could only happen in the movies, not in real life. As shooters, my wife and I both just cracked up at the accuracy of the "good guys". Of course, the bad guy aren't so good. I just can't understand how some people could rate this movie 10. They must really have a warped view of the old west. Ever notice directors think horses lope (run) everywhere? It's a good thing they're making a movie and the horses get breaks along with the actors or they would keel over dead from all that running. Strange too they can be ridden all day and never seem to need to eat. Or poop. When a gun is fired, it recoils or jumps back and up. In movies they pretty much don't even wiggle. Guns are LOUD. Yet no one ever flinches or even reacts to the noise. Shots inside a room, building would be deafening. Firearms only hold a given number of bullets yet some guns never seem to run out without being reloaded. Locks were shot open with no problem and the bullets never ricocheted. Saddles of the period were pretty plain with high cantles (backs). In the movie they were low backed and Cheyanne rolls right out of the 50's. (1950s)

Funny... this film tells us the tale of an outlaw called Jesse James... but it doesn't bear any resemblance to the Jesse I'm familiar with. This Jesse is a hero of the people... he only steals from those who can afford it, uses violence sparingly in self-defense and can get out of ANY life-or-death situation... No matter how against the odds it is.What sets the tone is the opening sequence where, in a suicidal gambit, he rides directly in front of dozens of soldiers AND a gatling gun... just to distract them long enough so his friends can get away. In real life this would lead to instant death 10 times outta 10... but here he escapes with just a little nick. I don't care how much inspirational music and slow-mo you attach to scenes like this, (and there's quite a few) they feel like you're watching a cartoon. Serious Western fans should have a fit.So, we've already established that JJ is a FINE young man. He loves his Mama, wants to settle down with a good wife and is nigh-on indestructible. The gang he leads is mostly full of drunkards, try-hards and idiots... NOTHING can compare to the demi-god that is our Jesse. In fact, was the entire production bankrolled by his ancestors? I demand an investigation. NOW.Another interesting development is that almost every baddie has a moustache or a beard, where the goodies are mostly as smooth as a baby's bottom. Now, I dislike facial hair as much as the next dude... but isn't that a little... beardist? If you wanna avoid getting killed in this town, just invest in a razor. Simples.By the end, when Jesse James has survived (Of course) because his missus has blown up a train he was being held prisoner on, and loads and LOADS of men on horseback have appeared from nowhere to save the day (hope those extras got paid well), it was all I could do to stop myself from throwing my hands to the sky. In a film full of improbabilities and impossibilities this didn't just take the cake, but also emptied the entire dessert trolley.It isn't a boring film, but one stuffed with so many illogical moments and no imagination directing, the experience feels more like a cheap imitation of how a Western should be. Finally, if you're doing an exam on this period in history, don't bother trying to derive any knowledge from American Outlaws. You're likely to be the recipient of a nice juicy F, and have a seat reserved for you at the back of the class. Wearing a cap with D on it. You have been warned... 5/10

This is fun and never a "Western" in exactly the same way as "Butch Cassidy" was fun and never a "Western".Moby's music is just as anachronistic as Burt Bacharach's."American Outlaws" presents Jesse James as a "Dark Knight"if you like,a Batman but without the brooding self - pity,a superhero with a sense of fun,immortal yet vulnerable.In all likelihood of course,Mr James was a grungy amoral killer but Mr Colin Farrel plays him like a guy in a Calvin Klein ad.And do you know what?It doesn't matter.From the opening sequence when the nascent James/ Younger gang destroy half the Union Army it is plain that this is not a movie that takes itself seriously. I have never seen so many bleached teeth outside of a California Teen movie,Mr Ronny Cox as the inevitable "Doc" is particularly well - endowed in that department,although Miss Ali Larter as his daughter and Jesse's squeeze runs him close.But it's easy to be picky. There's a lot of shootin' but very little killin',much stylised balletic action and a brilliantly bad performance from Mr Timothy Dalton as the founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency whom I believe to have been of Scottish extraction,and Mr Dalton does what I can only assume to be his level best to reflect that fact. "American Outlaws" is great entertainment in a Mouseketeer kind of way and only the grumpiest of purists will begrudge it.

As westerns go, "American Outlaws" amounts to an above-average horse opera that knows when to giddy-yap and when to giddy-up. Les Mayfield, who directed "Flubber" and "Blue Streak," stages several exhilarating but bloodless gunfights that owe their epic grandeur to Hong Kong action maestro John Woo of "Face/Off" fame as much as traditional cowboy classics like Clint Eastwood's "The Outlaw Josey Wales." While this blatantly romanticized account of the notorious Jesse James-Cole Younger gang lacks the authenticity of either "The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid" (1972) or "The Long Riders" (1980), Mayfield keeps the action going at a gallop. Moreover, writers Roderick Taylor and John Rogers have juggled the chronological order of events to heighten dramatic impact. Clearly, "American Outlaws" duplicates the surefire "Young Guns" formula, portraying Jesse as a saintly Robin Hood bandit. While Irish heartthrob Colin Farrell resembles actor Tyrone Power, who starred as Jesse James in the prototypical 1939 Technicolor version "Jesse James," he looks nothing like the real-life Jesse Woodson James. Nevertheless,western aficionados should applaud the way that Mayfield has kept the conventions of the genre intact while adding enough fresh touches to enhance this superficial but stimulating shoot'em-up."American Outlaws" covers the early years of James-Younger gang. The upbeat Taylor & Rogers script doesn't depict the tragic demise Jesse met at the hands of the double-crossing sidewinder who bushwhacked him for the bounty. This flavorful variation unfolds as the Civil War concludes. Federal troops have pinned down Frank James (Gabriel Macht of "Simply Irresistible"), Cole Younger (Scott Caan of "Varsity Blues"), and Bob Younger (Gregory Smith of "Boiler Room") with cannon fire when Jesse (Colin Farrell of "Tigerland") rides to their rescue. Mayfield establishes Jesse's hell-bent-for-leather audacity when our impetuous protagonist launches a fearless charge against an army of Yankees. Farrell imitates John Wayne in "True Grit" as he rides full-tilt into battle, blazing away with two six-shooters while he keeps his horses' reins clenched between his teeth.After surviving this fracas, our heroes return to Missouri to resume farming. Along come villainous railroad baron Thaddeus Rains (Harris Yulin of "Rush Hour 2") and henchman Rollin Parker (Terry O'Quinn of "The Stepfather") who are stealing property at two dollars-per-acre. When they approach Ma James (Kathy Bates of "Misery"), she wants her sons to gun them down. Frank convinces Ma to hold off. Rains' chief troubleshooter, Allan Pinkerton (Timothy Dalton of "License to Kill"), warns them that was Rains' only offer. Parker retaliates after the James refuse to sell and sends his ruffians to dynamite their farm. Ma James dies in the explosion, and Jesse and Frank saddle up with the Youngers to wreck vengeance on the railroad.While "American Outlaws" doesn't qualify as a classic, this better-than-average sagebrusher provides a glimpse of the old West we haven't seen in many moons. As Jesse's stalwart wife Zee Mimms, Ali Larter of "Final Destination" has a way with stopping trains dead in their tracks. A crackerjack supporting cast, especially Dalton as Pinkerton, makes "American Outlaws" fun to watch.