Godless 2017(Western series)

This came out of nowhere, at least for me.

Godless review – Netflix's wonderfully wicked western fires on all cylinders

 

I'm not much of a fan of westerns, but I read really good things about it, so decided to give it a try. I'm 4 (out of 7) eps in so far and am liking it very much. The show's based om an interesting premise and populated with diverse characters that manage to avoid most of the usual cliches of the genre (so far). The cinematography is beautiful.

If I had to pick a very minor critique it's that for such a short series, there's quite a few padded-out scenes around the mid episodes. As the eps run long, some at over an hour and ten minutes, those scenes could easily have been trimmed a little without losing anything. But really, that's just a minor nitpick.

Look forward to finishing off the final three eps.

 

Started it tonight, will forge ahead,

 

So I've seen all 7 eps now. Overall I enjoyed, but it does have flaws. I mentioned padded-out scenes before and they continue to the end. There are too many diversions that sap the narrative, from the extended 'horse whisperer' scenes to frequent flashbacks, even on the ending eps where the plot should be motoring along. And you had pointless character pieces (eg, the painter related scenes).

Also, the final showdown was a bit silly and over the top in parts. The epilogue seemed to drag on too long as well.

The good bits - strong acting by all; good to see strong female characters (though they really need to stop shooting every man they meet!); lots of good pithy/philosophical dialog; cinematography (though less fiddling with the color palette would have been preferable); and pretty seamless CGI (but not always).

So, pretty good, but not great IMO.

 

I agree with the weaknesses you mention. I suspect a lot of material was edited/cut that would have fleshed out some of these characters. Jeff Daniels was excellent at channeling a demented John Brown type. The other actors did well too. I can recommend this one.

 

I'm watching episode 1 now. Lady Mary needs her maid (wouldn't help, tbh). Teleprompter style acting. Jeff Daniels looks like poor man's Ed Harris.
Will keep on watching, anyway.

 

A great series, fine storytelling, decent cast and nice music!

 

I tried watching about 10 minutes last night, but it was so dark, I couldn't see anything. I gave up. Maybe I'll try again another time.

 

Maybe it's your screen? I haven't encountered this problem with this series neither on my iMac nor my tv...

 

Will try this show today.

 

Spoiler

Michelle Dockery with her shirt off can't be all bad.

 

I sampled the first episode last night. Deesky used the phrase "over the top" to describe it, and I can only add "times two." The villain (Jeff Daniels) isn't evil, he (and his gang) are super evil.

I like the challenge of figuring out the plot from narrative threads and from the characters. So the series starts that way, and then there is this one conversation in the first episode, where the back story is spelled out on the level a "three-year-old" could understand. And it is a very, very simple overall plot. And absurd, over the top, and recycled as well.

I may stick with it, I know there will be twists and turns, but the writing isn't up to the quality of the better and best Westerns series already shown (e.g., Deadwood is tens times more interesting).

 

I don't need that kind of revisionist PC Western Series, that "Godless" is IMO ....

"The Son" was pretty awesome despite all its flaws, it felt like that story could have totally happened that way back then, but this fantasyland of yore in "Godless" is not my cup of tea, after Ep1, no more of this.

And apart from the obvious "Deadwood", "Hatfields and McCoys" was very good too.

 

Yeah, the old West never had lesbians, religious zealots and women who were competent with guns.

 

Sure, but they probably didnt look like that, perfect hair, lipstick etc




Hey - look there is Calamity Jane



Deadwood nailed it pretty good

 

I think Godless nailed it with Merritt Weaver:

Not too PC is it?

 

Well, there was a woman called Anne Oakley who didn't look bad, really...

 

That's the thing, this was never conceived as a series to begin with. It was originally scripted as a feature film. When it wasn't picked up for a film, Netflix picked it up and wanted to make a limited series.

It really shows because the basic story is pretty basic and probably would have worked better as a 2 hr movie. But now they had 7+ hours to fill so they stretched the hell out of it and added in pointless scenes and sub-plots.

Even Netflix seemed to be aware of the shortfalls because in their promotional material they focused on the 'town run by women angle' as a differentiator. In fact, had much more of the story focused on this dynamic, instead of being in the periphery, it would have been a much more interesting series.

 

Worth a look if you like Westerns-there really aren't too many good ones being made any more. I'm a Jeff Daniels fan so it was an automatic watch for me anyway. The cinematography, especially in the first episode, is outstanding.

 

It’s Julia Roberts. A pretty woman in any era...

 

A shortcoming (I found) was the Peckinpah-esque slowmotion sequence during the final shoot-out in the village (and the dramatic music in the soundtrack during that scene) . A visual gimmick that didn't happen in the series before...

 

Not a big fan of Westerns but this was really good. Merrit Wever was a standout.

 

All of these discussions, historical accuracy, etc., is the reason I don't try to watch period pieces. They simply smack of too much Hollywood and nobody attempts to get it right. Well, because if it was RIGHT it wouldn't sell because it's too ugly.

"the Assassination of Jesse James..." probably comes the closest, even though it has Brad Pitt, but since Jesse James actually wasn't bad looking, and the supporting cast looked similar to the real participants, hey, it was pretty convincing.

Boardwalk Empire gets a great A+, as well.

Deadwood was crap because the language was all wrong. Way wrong. Even some of the weapons were off my 10-20 years, give or take.

It's one of the reasons why I can't get into the Godfather films. Their friggin' hair, for god's sake! Such a small thing they could have easily remedied, with a few haircuts, but no, it pulls me right out of it and makes me think 1970s, not mid to late 1940s.

Just imagine in Saving Private Ryan if all the guys had Al Pacino hair coming back from the war.

Rant over. Sorry about that.

 

For someone who doesn't try to watch period pieces you have watched a bunch of period pieces.

 

Heh. Not really. Like, I've never seen The Godfather flicks all the way through. I saw two episodes of Deadwood and I turned it off.

Boardwalk snagged me right away and didn't let go. Jesse James I had seen the previews and deemed it worthy enough for a try. I wasn't let down.

My list of period pieces that I wouldn't, couldn't, or shouldn't watch is way too long to list here, and way off topic.