Shadow on the Mesa

The main character Rawlins has 1 more facial expression than Arnold as the terminator. He smiled once, maybe twice. His acting chops are wooden and I think the only reason they chose him is because he has those "squinty" gunfighter eyes that are in vogue for these types of movies. All of the costumes were not "aged" properly, same for the hats. Rawlin's holster was brand new, it looked like it was fresh out of the box, it had no evidence that he had used it before enough to be a "fast draw." It certainly didn't look like he had practiced with it. The rifle shots would have gone straight through the buckboard and hit the men taking cover behind it. And if I ever see another movie where a building blows up while the actors never look back it will be more irritating than the whole of this movie was. I can't see how this movie got good reviews. The acting was horrible.

First off, I love Kevin Sorbo. I love westerns. And I really liked his previous western, which I believe was also on the Hallmark channel. This movie had several problems that kept me from enjoying it:

1) The music and dialogue tracks were very poorly balanced. The music was overpowering and the dialogue was a little hard to hear many times.

2) The music in general was very generic, and the background music seemed to be almost the same, scene after scene. And what's worse is the music NEVER stops for more than a few seconds at a time. LITERALLY. It's in your face the whole movie, and I found it cloying and grating on my nerves.

3) Kevin Sorbo has a secondary role in this, and isn't in it nearly as much as I expected.

4) The main character carried the quiet, mysterious stranger type a little far, and it seemed pretty cheesy to me.

And just overall the movie didn't flow very well. It just kind of seemed like a bunch of scenes cobbled together. It never really pulled me in. I hope he does another western more similar to his previous one, but this one I could've done without.

I have to admit that I loved this movie. I've always been a fan of Kevin Sorbo and he didn't let me down in this. Wes Brown as Rawlins is a newcomer worth watching - as proved by his role in the Love Comes Softly prequels. He's gorgeous, strong, silent and brave just like a leading man should be. It had action, adventure, family loyalty and tragedy. Kevin, Wes and Micah Alberti made an excellent trio of heroes. It may not win any awards as it was a bit cheesy, but, I urge anyone to watch it as it was thoroughly entertaining. And it was left open ended enough that a sequel can be made so I'm hoping that they'll make a sequel in the same way they've done with the Goodnight for Justice westerns. Please, make a sequel as it was that good.

My husband and I really love this movie. We consider it to be a classic western with excellent acting on the part of Kevin Sorbo, Wes Brown, and Gail O'Grady. The editing is excellent throughout and the tug of emotion is carried through very well from beginning to end. Wes handled his role so well, carrying such a grudge which becomes very understandable as the movie unfolds. We've watched the movie over and over again and the one thing that amazes me is that it never gets OLD!! Somehow there is a freshness about this movie that remains no matter how many times we have watched it. I'd have to say that my husband has watched it at least 20 times, I've watched it probably 8 times. I highly recommend it and dearly hope they will make a sequel!!!

Some has been actors and some you hope you'll never see again run around in some kind of western with no story or entertainment value what so ever - if you like to watch good movies.

But it is a dream come true if you are a hair dresser.

For some reason in this western people have always the best styled hair and make up.

Even after having been in the wild outdoors or after a shoot out.

I guess the makers of this crap think that people from that time period only left the house perfectly styled and groomed.

It's like watching project runaway - the western edition.

Every minute I expected that crazy Heidi Klum to show up saying "Love your style honey when you get on that horse"

Well, what would you expect from Hallmark - the zero talent movie factory?

Skip this disaster and save your brain.