Comanche Moon

When I started watching this mini-series I was not expecting much as I loved Lonesome Dove and I figured this would be a cheap prequel of it. I was very wrong. The acting is spot on in this mini-series. I would very much recommend watching Lonesome Dove first, and then watching Comanche Moon. If the viewer watches the series in this order then the viewer will have a much more enjoyable experience with Comanche Moon because really it's about Gus and Woodrow(Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones' characters in Lonesome Dove).

So in this mini-series, it's still about Gus and Woodrow when they were younger. Gus and Woodrow are brilliantly played by Steve Zahn and Karl Urban in this one. Spot on performances too, the best role I've ever seen Steve Zahn play as Gus. If one watches Lonesome Dove first and then Comanche Moon, the viewer then gets to see all of the little nuances of Gus and Woodrow of when they were younger. The performances by Zahn and Urban were extremely well developed and very thoughtfully played in staying true to the characters that we fell in love with that were portrayed by Duvall and Jones in Lonesome Dove. Zahn and Urban really did their homework with exploring and playing these two iconic characters. A real treat it was to watch this mini-series. I loved it.

I can't forget to mention Val Kilmer too. Kilmer is a laugh out loud riot in this film. He is so funny and it's well worth watching, also/or, for Val Kilmer's performance. I highly recommend this film.

What shocked me about the COMANCHE MOON DVD (other than getting it for just five dollars at WalMart) was just how enjoyable and poignant it really was. As a serious reader who has read and reread all the classic LONESOME DOVE novels, I knew a lot was going to be left out and over-simplified, yet I wasn't prepared for how moved I was at the end.

First, the bad news. The Comanche side of the story is watered down and much of the impact is lost. In the book the father-son conflict between Buffalo Hump and his son Blue Duck is literally Shakespearean, with enormous intensity and passion. As the son of a Mexican woman Buffalo Hump brutally raped, Blue Duck is a symbol of tragic retribution, and the destruction he brings on Buffalo Hump is chilling and inevitable. ("The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices make means to plague us.") In the movie it just seems pointless, and random. Also in the book, Blue Duck is a symbol of change. He fights better with pistols and rifles than with the bow or the lance, and he leads an army of white drifters rather than native warriors. But in the movie these changes are glossed over, so the deeper meaning is lost.

On the other hand, the story of the Texans is told well and there are some amazing performances. Captain Scull and his sexy wife Inez are both annoying cartoon characters in the book, but Val Kilmer and Rachel Griffiths really succeed in making them not only charismatic and funny but strangely likable as well. It's interesting to note that in the book Inez Scull takes no part in any action outside of the bedroom, but in the movie she is far braver. During the Great Raid she actually joins the Rangers in fighting off the Comanches with a rifle! Normally I hate when these changes happen but here I felt it was right for the character and added a dimension of courage along with her cruelty.

Steve Zahn and Karl Urban are both terrific as Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call, but what really surprised me was how much Elizabeth Banks did as Maggie Tilton, the mother of Call's son Newt. In the books I always visualized Maggie as sort of drab and hopeless, but in the movie she's practically radiant, full of courage and good cheer no matter what the circumstances. (Whether a real prostitute on the frontier would glow like Elizabeth Banks is another question.) But it was nice to see that Maggie was more than just a victim. And some of the final scenes with Newt leaving his mother's home and saying goodbye to a young Jake Spoon were incredibly heartbreaking. These were not characters I cared about when I read the book (I was much more interested in the Comanches) but in the movie the brilliant performances really made me care.

All in all I think COMANCHE MOON the movie is really a very successful film -- if you take it on its own terms and don't compare it to the book.

What has hurt this film is everyone and their Aunt Matilda is comparing it to its illustrious predecessor, which is always going to hurt any show. If you take it as a western, it's a darned good show. We discover how our characters in 'Lonesome Dove' wind up in the situations they start up in (Such as: Why do two Texas Rangers, who live on adventure, wind up in a dead town? And how did Gus manage to lose the love of his life?) The performances are very good, and we see the exact same mannerisms the characters will have down the road. The actors did a very good job. The cinematography was superb, and while the music didn't live up to the legendary score of nearly two decades past, that was an impossible task, and it was still fine.

It also helped that we had three episodes, which you just don't see in a miniseries anymore. Heck, it's downright impossible to see a two part telefilm these days.

Fans of the western, rejoice!

While I would agree that this is no Lonesome Dove, I did find it to have a few good scenes. The cowboy scene where they discuss what a genius is was one of them. However, the greatness of the original was how the characters were written and developed. I don't really see that with this installment, but keep in mind, the first part of Lonesome Dove paled in comparison to the 2nd and 3rd parts. I have always been a fan of Steve Zahn. It is never easy to take on a role made famous by someone else. I thought Zahn had many of the mannerisms that Duvall used down pat. I noticed the Gus finger wave and the head shake. However, the writing wasn't good enough to make me stop watching the actor and start paying attention to the story. I wouldn't call it a waste of time, since westerns are few and far between, but I wouldn't call it great TV either. I'll watch the rest.... if there isn't a game on.

I must have seen a different version than the first person on the user comments section.

It's really, really good...Steve Zahn and Karl Urban are great together. Val Kilmer's character is much like he was in the novel, although the emphasis is on Gus and Call and the Comanches. We get to see what happened with Call and Newt's mother as well. I won't spoil it, but it gives a lot of insight into Call's character.

All the actors did a really convincing job. Steve Zahn had the biggest challenge, I thought, to follow Robert Duvall! There's a lot of action, humor, tragedy. It's got something for everyone. I can't wait until it airs, my family are all jealous I got to see it early!