Review | American Primeval is a rare handsome Netflix series, but it feasts on violence and atrocities too much

Instead of the black-and-white good vs. evil setting of traditional action flicks, American Primeval moves in a gray area and is a darkly nihilistic violence binge.

Netflix American Primeval creator and director of the western series Peter Berg has said that the darkly dark and violent six-part mini-series is basically not a linker at all. The reason, among other things Friday Night Lights -and Painkiller – a man known from the series mentions the realism of novelty. The series is anything but traditional Hollywood cowboys vs. Incars stuff.

American Primeval is a magnificently staged, costumed, photographed and acted work. Nihilistic gloom is still, in its own way, almost as clichéd as the black-and-white good versus evil western movies.

The novelty repeats the pattern of modern westerns, but takes the violence and Gore too far. You get tired of the graphic horrors after just a couple of episodes. You also don’t want to get a hold of the characters in the series, which is too full of intersecting plot patterns. Not even the ones the series wants the viewer to be on.

Stories and people drown under the endless mutilation of human bodies, rapes and other horrors. Written by the series The Revenant familiar from the movie Mark L. Smith individuals are more interested in the clashing ideologies in the Wild West of 1857.

Sheer cruelty

Smith especially criticized organized religion and the inherent evil of man. The contact surface drowns in smoking guns, severed scalps, severed limbs, dripping blood, entrails and one-dimensional perpetrators of violence.

Filmed mostly on location in New Mexico and outside on giant sets, American Primeval looks really good as a Netflix series.

Director Berg and cinematographer Jacques Jouffret however, offer too much wobbly handheld camera and close-ups. The drone photos do present somewhat handsome landscapes, but for example the snow-covered mountain peaks could have been shown in the background in the middle of the killing.

On top of everything, the drab, colorless and almost black-and-white filter works. Color definition absorbs joy and life from every picture. The background works great because the whole world is pure brutality and untimely death.

Utah in 1857 is anything but a traditional saloon and gun heroes. The army clashes with Mormon militias and the various native tribes fight with the settlers and each other.

Too many loose plot patterns

American Primeval tells its story through too many characters caught in the crossfire, who are difficult to sympathize with. The real Wild West was a horrible place for sure, but six hours of obnoxious people and their slaughter is sickening to watch.

The focus of the series is mother Sara, who is on her way to the family’s father in the northeast (Betty Gilpin) and son Devin (Preston Mota). Isaac Reed, raised by an Indian tribe, reluctantly accompanies and protects them (Taylor Kitsch). Two Moons, a mute Shoshone girl (Shawnee Pourier).

by Jim Bridger (Shea Whigham) captained by Fort Bridger, Jacob Pratt (Dane DeHaan) led by a Mormon preacher and his several wives, most recently Saura Lightfoot-Leonin presented by Abish.

The paths of these two groups do not cross after the first episode in principle at all. Abish’s wife, who is a significantly more multidimensional female character than Betty Gilpin’s Sara, would have needed more screen time.

The series mixes fiction with real events and people. The Mountain Meadows carnage shot in the long take of the first episode makes it very clear what is to come. In reality, a massacre that lasted several days has been condensed into less than ten minutes.

Numbing violence

In an attack by Mormon militias together with natives against a migrant caravan, arrows pierce heads and limbs, a little boy is shot in the face at close range, skulls are crushed and limbs are torn off. The completely overboard scene is like a summary of the brutality of the rest of the season.

Mass Murder also perfectly showcases the overly hectic editing of the series and the style that relies too much on only close-ups. In the later episodes, the pace slows down at times, but there are so many characters that most of them remain wonders of one idea. I’m not even going to try to list the whole string here.

The actors of the main roles do an excellent job. The most time is spent with the characters of Betty Gilpin and Taylor Kitsch. They, too, remain so distant during the six hours that the emotional end of the last episode, in particular, is mostly laughable.

At least the creepy underlining version playing in the background doesn’t help This Land is Your Land from the song.

After halftime, the creators decide to throw in the voice of the army captain as well. The pasted-on diary reports open the story from the start, as if the authors realized in the post-production phase that the whole thing was unnecessarily confusing and poorly rhythmic.

Almost every episode also includes short glimpses of scenes seen just a moment ago, with the idea of ​​making sure the viewer doesn’t fall off the horse in the middle of the rambling narration.

The praised realism is forgotten

A lot of the horrors that happen to the “good characters” of American Primeval seem to be included only because they too are offered an acceptable reason for brutal acts of violence and revenge.

The dirty world of the series looks perfectly authentic. The sets, costumes and make-up are first-class, but too many pictures show, for example, a bright white pepsodent smile. Too many natives’ teeth shine in pristine condition.

Realism is also sometimes forgotten in acts of violence. For example, hitting him in the face with the butt of a rifle only makes the little boy unconscious – just like in the old links that the series tries to differentiate from.

The endless fake snow in the mountain landscapes also manages to annoy several times.

Moving in a purely moral gray area, the series makes the Mormons and several Native American tribes in particular seem oddly one-dimensional. The original socks are closer to Hollywood leggings than the creators imagine. The Shoshone tribe boils down mainly to the peace-loving mother and the lead character’s warlike son Red Weather (Derek Hinkey).

American Primeval ties the pack too quickly and easily. Better than a six-hour miniseries or a two-hour movie, a multidimensional work would perhaps work as a long video game, where it would be easier to step into the crappy shoes of the characters doing horrible things.

As a Netflix series, American Primeval is still an exceptionally handsome and well-acted production.

The series became available on Netflix today, January 9. All six episodes have been watched for the evaluation.