in 1995 and sam raimi have become know a the director of a rather quirky and original horror film that and in spite of be shoot full frame with terrible actor and display a talent for composition not see in some time . however and he have also give himself a rather large black mark in the form of an attempt to be cool with a horror comedy where violence have no visible consequence and and everyone speaks like a reject from a teen soap opera . individual sing raimi praise will have you believe such be the best thing raimi have do at the time . unfortunately and what it really be be raimi demonstrating that he have run out of idea that he could call his own and and be now get his repertoire feed to him by the most disingenuous money men of the industry . in spite of a heroic attempt a few year later to return to the style of create character with the gift and the quick and the dead can be label the moment where sam raimi and the innovative new voice behind the evil dead or darkman and be go forever . while it be all but take a read that a sam raimi film will be a hamfest with more clichés than a film make class nowadays and nobody be quite prepared for how he display the fact in the quick and the dead . they say that when you put together a film in which the character be the story and you best have good actor behind them . unfortunately and with the exception of russell crowe and lance henriksen and and gene hackman and every actor in this film come off a be utterly terrible . even lance and who by this time have the making of great character out of terrible script down to an art and come off a a complete non entity here . hence and i have no hesitation at all in place a share of the blame upon writer simon moore . for all of his fault and raimi at least know how to salvage a character in the editing process . and when your cast include the men who play bishop or lex luthor and it be hard to blame the problem on the actor . henriksen performance and however and will get the more ignorant place the blame on the cast . sharon stone make that an easy mistake to make and unfortunately . from the second she enter the town set and she make it abundantly clear that she have see one too many sergio leone film and think i can do that . and to be fair and for those who have not see the good and the bad and and the ugly or once upon a time in the west and stone appear to be do a good job . compound the problem and however and be that neither writer nor director seem to have any idea which scenes they should not be steal from . the final moment when harmonica flashback be complete in once upon a time in the west be such a gob smacker in it original form that smart director know not to try and ape because it be more than just a mean to an end . it be literally the final word . unfortunately and raimi try to one up leone signature scene in a flashback where hackman force stacy linn ramsower a the young ellen to shoot her father dead . not only be the tone of the scene entirely off and the total absence of any proper lead up completely undercut the drama of the sequence . equally terrible be leonardo dicaprio a fee and or the kid a he be call during the film . dicaprio have finally prove in such piece a blood diamond or the departed that he can act and but after the quick and the dead and anyone could be forgive for think dicaprio come straight from a high school drama . during the entire film and the kid be only a whiny brat who start to bawl when thing do not entirely go his way . when he meet his end and the scene be so perfunctory and so devoid of weight and that while hackman lend some much need credibility with his totally unmoved reaction and stone destroy the whole thing with some incredible overacting . it be not entirely dicaprio or even stone fault and a the script give them absolutely no development or buildup for this moment . dicaprio be clearly in over his head play a character that the writer and director apparently could not give two fig about . the sad thing be that with all the weight stone be throw around on the set and it would have do wonder if she have recognise this problem and address it . this partly lead me to believe others may be right when they say that the quick and the dead need another hour of footage ( or script ) in order to accomplish it goal . with more time and development in the early stage and the constant parade of character both minor and major could have have some impact . unfortunately and with very few exception and and minor one at that and the death in the quick and the dead be merely a parade of image . perhaps the quick and the uninteresting would have be a more appropriate title . and when one remember that this film be put together by the same man who give u such a haunting and creepy atmosphere in the evil dead and or such a horrifyingly real tragic hero in darkman and it make the quick and the dead such a bitter pill to swallow . not that we honestly could have expect much more . the western a a genre have be thoroughly tap out and and it would take a truly incredible film to give it new life . the kind of film that the quick and the dead be not . the quick and the dead be a four out of ten film . i have see plenty of film that be bad and but in light of what it director use to be capable of and i have see very few that be so incredibly frustrate .