The actors and the acting suited the movie just fine. Costner gave a very nice preformance as a work-hungry fresh policemen with a mission, who during the mission starts to realize you need to change. You can see his changes in his way of work, the way he treats his familie and collegues. Also Sean Connery succeeds very much in his role to be the 'father' of the four and guider of the group. And Charles Martin Smith, the accountant who first experiences the exciment of life and adds a comedy element to the movie. The reason why it gives the genre so much depth is that this movie finds the perfect combination of the clear "Good vs. Bad" story that is used in many western movies (you can see other western elements in the movie as well, locations for example), with the scene at the bridge as the climax of this movie. Which is also an amazing location choice and change to display the character developtment. First they are strict, they stick to the strict city rules. But later they are on a wide open field, freedom, no rules: just the good and the bad. And we don't hear you about the amazingly thrilling movie references and shock moments, such as the thrilling scene at Malones house from first person (taken from Halloween), the shocking opening scene taken from Hitchcock's Sabotage and the most obvious reference and perfect tribute t o Eisenstein's revelotionary Potyomkin: The scene at the station. No: we only hear you about "bad acting". Come with something better than this pap.