Out West, things move slowly — very slowly, just as they do in Kevin Costner’s latest western drama, “Open Range.” The movie opens with a classic shot of a cool and confident cowboy, Charley Waite (Costner, “Waterworld”), atop his faithful horse, gazing into the endless green plains of the West.

This shot not only gives a taste of the beautiful cinematography to come but also foreshadows an end that seems as distant as Costner’s trancelike stare. Costner, who also directed the film, manages to fluff a fundamental western plot with lengthy scenery shots and arbitrarily placed clichés.

Charley and Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall, “John Q”) are engaged in their heroic plight, to rid a town of its corrupt cattle barons, when a fellow cowboy gets himself caught in a skirmish on his way out of town. Their friend, Mose (Abraham Benrubi, “ER”), gets beaten up and thrown into jail, which leads the two brave men to seek revenge.

As soon as Charley and the Boss set foot in the jail, the revenge plot begins to unravel. A textbook Western, the preparation leading up to the final gunfight scene is less than exciting. Filled with shortened interaction between the town’s people and lengthy scenes in which Charley and Boss do a whole lot of nothing, the rising action does not fuel the audience for the long wait before the climactic fight.

The lackluster feel after the primary encounter between the two sides drags on helps to kill the audience’s interest.

Costner rushes through character development and fails to form any emotional attachment with the audience, making it irritating to watch characters that seem estranged and quite distant.

The honest cowboys and crooked cattle barons attempt to deliver a hearty helping of machismo as they spit out what they hope will be quotable statements and life lessons over one another in a substandard cowboy accent. Costner’s accents and lines throughout the film seem harsh and choppy, in turn completely eliminating any sort of flow in the story.

Throughout the movie, there is a feeling of competition between the characters to be the one that the viewer identifies with. In reality, all that can be taken from this movie is that it should not take two hours to see a gunfight in a Western movie and also that Costner does not need an extra 40 minutes to resolve what the fight failed to do.

When it finally arrives, the final contest almost lives up to what the plotline builds it up to be. With intense and alluring camera angles, the fight scene keeps the audience’s attention and refuels them so they are able to sit through the remainder of the lengthy film.

However, the gunshots may seem magnificent in comparison to the rest of the movie just because they startle the audience as they discharge with fury and emotion, which the overall movie lacks. One may need to view this shooting sequence by itself to be the true judge.

Nor is much added by the hurried and overdramatic love story between Charley and Sue (Annette Bening, “American Beauty”). Awkward and stale, the two have a nonexistent relationship, barely even speaking before they decide to get married. The entire romance seems thrown together and too forced.

Costner’s attempt to play the rough-edged yet caring cowboy fits a Western profile, but may not be suitable for moviegoers today — especially a young crowd. Mediocre at best, the film appeals to viewers aesthetically and grabs at their nerves, but may not be worth the time it takes to do so.

Grade: C