"On the mountain, Ennis not only loves Jack, he fights him. Just down from the mountain, he punishes himself, banging his head literally and figuratively against a wall. Often seeming nearly catatonic, he erupts into rages against bullying bikers, against his ex-wife, against a motorist whom he beats and who, in turn, beats him.
"These repeated scenes of violence cannot be the cathartic violence of a typical Western. Traditionally, Westerns resolve themselves through a showdown: men confront each other with something at stake, and a climactic violent scene clarifies everything. But the violence in this movie can settle nothing because the heroes themselves have internalized the conventions that
imprison them. Their fighting is self-destructive. It can never hit its true target. It can provide no resolution."