Two Texas Rangers try to save another from a Mexico bandit; they also take on Comanche, as well as their own romantic woes.

CRITIQUE

Comanche Moon is based on the Larry McMurtry novel of the same name; it’s the prequel to the very good novel Lonesome Dove, which was turned into a successful TV miniseries in 1989.  But attempts to do the same here just fall flat; there really isn’t enough plot here to fill up over 4 1/2 hours, while the main characters aren’t given much to do at all.  The result is just rather dull.

The main characters here are Gus McCrae (Steve Zahn) and Woodrow Call (Karl Urban), who were played in Lonesome Dove by Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, respectively.  The focus of Comanche Moon is how the end of the Texas Rangers (and the Civil War) also took place at the same time as the end of the Comanche.  But really, the point here is just to set up everything in Lonesome Dove, from all the characters in that film to the relationships referred to in the past of the characters there.

Unfortunately, setting all of this up isn’t nearly enough to make the miniseries interesting, particularly for those who haven’t seen Lonesome Dove recently.  The main problem is that McCrae and Call turn out to be incredibly passive characters here; though there are a number of missions that give the tale a bit of structure (the need to rescue Captain Scull from a Mexican bandit, assorted Comanche villains who need to be taken care of), amazingly McCrae and Call don’t actually complete any of them, with the villains killed by other characters and the Rangers ultimately not getting much of anything done.

This makes the final third even duller; there really isn’t anything unresolved here, so it’s just the slow setting up of characters and situations.  But the miniseries suffers from a real lack of urgency throughout; even when characters need to be rescued, no one ever seems to be in much hurry at all.

There is also a lot of weight on McCrae and Call’s relationships, both of which (involving Linda Cardellini’s Clara and Elizabeth Banks’ Maggie) are destined to go bad.  But the way they go bad just feels completely out of character for the men (who are unsympathetically selfish), while there isn’t enough to either of the relationships to demand all the time they get here.  Too often the script seems to be killing time just to fill up its miniseries length.

Some of the acting here is good enough to save this; Zahn is solid, as are Cardellini and Banks.  But Urban underplays his role dully, Rachel Griffiths overacts in her small role, and though Val Kilmer adds some real life in his scenes as the captured Scull, his character always feels like he is in a different movie, while he drops out of the tale along the way.  Ultimately this is just too slow and uninteresting to work, particularly at this length.

THE VIDEO

Comanche Moon is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen.  The picture quality is generally clear.

THE AUDIO

Comanche Moon is presented in English 5.1 Dolby Digital.  Dialogue, music and sound effects come through clear.  There are English and French subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

Behind the Scenes of Comanche Moon is a fairly standard 7-minute making-of featurette, that features interviews with the major male actors.

Riding Into The Sunset: Cowboy and Riding Training takes a 6-minute look at the actors learning to ride horses, though there isn’t much to it.

Comanche Heritage is a 6-minute piece about how accurate they tried to make the Comanche clothing and feathers.

FINAL THOUGHT