it's not his best by any means but he knocked it out of the park IMO. Really helped by the acting (Phoenix plays the violent bully with his usual flair, Reilly is luminous, and I dug the way Amed showed his character's introverted but resounding faith. Gyllenhaal's choices were more...peculiar), and with some great cinematography, of which the nighttime shootouts shot wide were a real highlight I thought.
Westerns are tough since everything about them had been done/said, but I found this to be a worthwhile addition to the genre, without being too in debt to its predecessors