Far and Away

A change of pace for Cruise and Kidman, after the dismal Days of Thunder, with this old-fashioned period romance. In 19th century Ireland, tenant farmer Joseph Donelly (Cruise) sets his handsome face against injustice, planning to avenge his father's death at the hands of unscrupulous landowners. Instead, he falls in with Shannon (Kidman), his intended victim's daughter, who persuades him to travel to America as her servant-companion. Once in Boston, Joseph makes good with bouts of bare-knuckle fighting, Shannon sweats and fumes in a chicken-plucking factory, and the pair feud and tease. Howard's lifelong ambition to make a film about his Irish ancestry results in a light confection, full of sweeping overhead shots and predictable pulp-fiction intrigue.