We waited, and waited, and waited, and then it ended. It was slow, maudlin, and ultimately dull. A pointless waste of talent. Too bad. We still love you, Sam!

Sam Elliott plays Lee Hayden, a dying actor who's struggling to deal with his mortality. I've never watched a Sam Elliott movie until the day I saw, The Hero. I've seen him in other stuff, but I've just never watched him as the lead in a movie before is all I'm saying.Sam Elliott is great in The Hero, he owns the screen with his acting and his voice. This man has the most awesome voice I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. The opening scene alone got me hooked into Elliott's character and the film.Lee is trying to come to terms with his past. On occasion, Lee goes out to the ocean and gazes upon its beauty. Lee also has some bad dreams that pretty much keep him from getting a good night sleep.Nick Offerman plays Jeremy who is a close friend of Lee's. Lee and Jeremy occasionally hang-out and smoke joints together. I enjoyed all of their scenes together, there's nothing like kicking back and having your best friend by your side. Also, Offerman and Elliott had good on-screen chemistry.Laura Prepon plays Charlotte, Lee's love interest, and I believed them as a couple. Prepon is mostly known from That 70's Show and Orange is the new black, she completely severs her 70's show character here, she becomes her own person, and she proves that she can be a fierce actor.Krysten Ritter plays Lucy Hayden and her character is the weakest link. Ritter delivers a decent enough performance, but she's not giving a whole lot of material to work with to showcase her range here.The Hero is a straight-forward movie about having emotional moments of clarity during tough times. I like The Hero, the musical choices are great, the scenery is beautiful, the relationships are good, the pacing is great, and Sam Elliott owns the screen with his voice and presence.For a more in-depth review, check out my video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78HjTnCIFv4

The Hero does not live up to where movies of the same genre do (the Wrestler, Crazy Heart) in that we're made well aware of the protagonist's past in order to advance the plot. Unfortunately, the Hero fails short in that it leaves Sam Elliot left to pick up a script devoid of virtually any background. Instead of using the past to build his future, this movie leaves his past and attempts to build a new character. Not at all what I hoped for.

Films are such downers these days.Old guy gets diagnosed with aggressive cancer inexplicably attracts a woman 30 or so years younger than him Nothing else happens.I appreciate good acting, but it needs to be a good experience.If you want to see an entertaining and moving film about getting old then see 'Last cab to Darwin'...