This is a fascinating thread. I'd agree with those who say the Western is essentially spent and dead as a genre. Unforgiven might have been the final fresh twist we had, using a genre western to make modern-day statements about violence. ...
... I think the war film is still alive and well, however, and that might, for the moment, have superceded westerns and mob films as the genre in which we can tell an "old story" but still layer it with truths about the world we live in now. ... In some respects, elements of Saving Private Ryan and the superior Band of Brothers have opened the door to fresh, raw and 21st century takes on WWII films.
Where I think we really need to go with war films, however, (and it may be too soon) is the Middle East. We need these films to speak honestly about wars in the desert; wars sparked by a religious fervor that we can't even begin to comprehend; wars against terrorists and not "traditional armies"; and wars that some would say are just as dubious as the one in Vietnam. ... (Slight tangent: I was watching "Grave of the Fireflies" recently and wondering what the Iraqi version of that movie would be. Would we be moved or pushed to a higher empathy for the situation and our enemy if we saw a film about two Iraqi children who are orphaned by the U.S. bombing, get lost and forgotten in the chaos and rubble, and ultimately succumb to malnutrition? Would this be considered an unpatriotic film?)
Final word: More and more every year, I think "Three Kings" is going to be thought of as a brilliant film that was ahead of its time and helped open the door for a new subset genre about modern warfare. ("Blackhawk Down," too, I know, but while that's a more technically brilliant piece, I think "Three Kings" is a more thoughtful movie with far more resonance.)
That's all.