As a fan of a wide variety of western-related material, ranging from Sergio Leone's 60's "Spaghetti Western" style to recent attempts like 3:10 to Yuma and True Grit, i got seriously attracted to give this AMC's Hell on Wheels a chance. By watching the teasers and trailers, the scenery, the premise, and the overall graphic treatment was attractive enough to get a western fan interested, at least it was in my opinion.
But, then the day came and the promise was not quite fulfilled. The good setting, the overall treatment was there, the beautiful scenery too, but it keeps feeling like something just wasn't there. The main character, the guy all the attentions would be over, looked good,was decently portrayed by Mr. Mount, but has the empathy of a frying pan. The main villain seemed so evil, so disgustingly corrupt, that even well played by Mr. Meaney, kept leaving a recurrent impression of a cartoonish, too- easy-to-get personality.
As the show progress, you start to figure out where the problem is: although all the decent setting, technique, and stuff, there's something wrong with the script. You just can't feel empathy for the "good" guys or ladies, you just can't hate the villains enough, you just see persons kind of scattered after a war and don't feel any interest for their stories. For a pilot episode, it started quite slow, both in the rhythm and in the character introduction, and the script leaves too few interesting hangs to the next episode, and fails miserably in creating interest in the overall story as a whole.
I just give them the 3 of 10 for the beautiful production, but be certain that is not enough to make a good western-themed show.
But, then the day came and the promise was not quite fulfilled. The good setting, the overall treatment was there, the beautiful scenery too, but it keeps feeling like something just wasn't there. The main character, the guy all the attentions would be over, looked good,was decently portrayed by Mr. Mount, but has the empathy of a frying pan. The main villain seemed so evil, so disgustingly corrupt, that even well played by Mr. Meaney, kept leaving a recurrent impression of a cartoonish, too- easy-to-get personality.
As the show progress, you start to figure out where the problem is: although all the decent setting, technique, and stuff, there's something wrong with the script. You just can't feel empathy for the "good" guys or ladies, you just can't hate the villains enough, you just see persons kind of scattered after a war and don't feel any interest for their stories. For a pilot episode, it started quite slow, both in the rhythm and in the character introduction, and the script leaves too few interesting hangs to the next episode, and fails miserably in creating interest in the overall story as a whole.
I just give them the 3 of 10 for the beautiful production, but be certain that is not enough to make a good western-themed show.