Set in the days when the independent fur traders who later formed the Northwest Company were struggling to break the Hudson's Bay Company's stranglehold monopoly, this film boasted highly atmospheric sets & costumes & plenty of intrigue. With a setup like that, how could they blow it so badly?
Jason Momoa as Declan Harp gave a wooden performance throughout, but to give him the benefit of the doubt, I'll blame it on the writers & the unidimensional lead character he was cast to portray. Hulking, indomitable & not much else, Harp seemed to have only three expressions, rage, pain & the thousand-yard stare. He had all the depth of a Marvel comic hero.
It really annoyed me that Zahn McClarnen's character Samoset got bumped off in the third ep; he's too good an actor to be tossed aside like that. Tantoo Cardinal's warm dignified portrayal of Kamenna, leader of the Lake Walker tribe, made up for the loss of Samoset tho. James Sives was thoroughly enjoyable as rollicking hard-drinking McTaggart & Alun Armstrong was gratifyingly vicious as wily Lord Benton. The one who really stole the show tho was Greg Bryk as the murderously amoral reprobate Cobbs Pond. His limp-wristed air of utter lassitude while menacing others with his pistol was chilling as a pretty-colored snake.
All in all tho, this series turned out to be a waste of a great historical setting & some good actors. So much fighting - often poorly choreographed at that - & so many predictable victories against overwhelming odds just gets boring & soon devolves to the level of a simple-minded action flick.
To make matters worse, we were frequently jarred out of what little suspension of disbelief we could muster by such blatant linguistic anachronisms as "paranoid", "Go for it!" & "smartass". This was one of those series you end up watching just to see how it's gonna end, then wish you could get your wasted time back.
Jason Momoa as Declan Harp gave a wooden performance throughout, but to give him the benefit of the doubt, I'll blame it on the writers & the unidimensional lead character he was cast to portray. Hulking, indomitable & not much else, Harp seemed to have only three expressions, rage, pain & the thousand-yard stare. He had all the depth of a Marvel comic hero.
It really annoyed me that Zahn McClarnen's character Samoset got bumped off in the third ep; he's too good an actor to be tossed aside like that. Tantoo Cardinal's warm dignified portrayal of Kamenna, leader of the Lake Walker tribe, made up for the loss of Samoset tho. James Sives was thoroughly enjoyable as rollicking hard-drinking McTaggart & Alun Armstrong was gratifyingly vicious as wily Lord Benton. The one who really stole the show tho was Greg Bryk as the murderously amoral reprobate Cobbs Pond. His limp-wristed air of utter lassitude while menacing others with his pistol was chilling as a pretty-colored snake.
All in all tho, this series turned out to be a waste of a great historical setting & some good actors. So much fighting - often poorly choreographed at that - & so many predictable victories against overwhelming odds just gets boring & soon devolves to the level of a simple-minded action flick.
To make matters worse, we were frequently jarred out of what little suspension of disbelief we could muster by such blatant linguistic anachronisms as "paranoid", "Go for it!" & "smartass". This was one of those series you end up watching just to see how it's gonna end, then wish you could get your wasted time back.