The script around him doesn't do Elliott or the character justice, and is a missed opportunity at a late-in-life comeback role for the one-time Western star.
Two good things are not enough to goose this all-too-familiar tale of a selfish man who wakes up one day, realizes that he blew it and scrambles to fix it before it's too late.
There are no surprises here, and the whole affair is a bit too modest. But Elliott's voice and his face have a lived-in quality that is unforgettable. The actor makes The Hero an enjoyable, worthy drama.
Nothing terribly novel here, but director Brett Haley has assembled a strong cast and a generous spirit, and Elliott has a way of finding poetry in silent gaze, speaking his lines as if written on velvet.
Not a lot happens in The Hero. Yet it is a deeply affecting warts-and-all rumination on thwarted ambitions, failed marriages and filial relationships gone sideways.