Comanche Moon (2008)

This was a decent adaptation of the Larry McMurtry novel, as it was a prequel to Lonesome Dove. It was OK, not great, but it had a great cast, which made it worth it. It was a prequel to Lonesome Dove, following the adventures of Texas Rangers McCrae and Call. It was similar to Dances With Wolves in that it featured interactions with Indians and them speaking in their native languages. I liked the cast, the war scenes, the lovely scenarios, and the authentic western scenarios and loyal adaptations as well as the colorful characters. If you are familiar with the Lonesome Dove saga, you might want to check this out.** 1/2 out of ****

Comanche Moon may have been one of the most anticipated films ever for me, as well as the most anticipated stories. When you think about it, this novel and movie should have been amazing. Call, Augustus, Deets, Jake, and Pea Eye all in their prime, the West still even more wild than Lonesome Dove, young Blue Duck, not to mention the great warriors Buffalo Hump and Kicking Wolf whose characters were built up greatly in Dead Man's Walk. With a setting like this how could it miss? If this had been done right it could have easily outshone even the original Lonesome Dove, the setup was just that good.But it was mostly a disappointment. It was way to rushed, did not truly recapture the characters we came to love so much in Lonesome Dove, was inconsistent in many ways from the history outlined in Lonesome Dove, and strayed away from the original characters to much. It was almost like an unfeeling and unemotional documentary of the lives of Gus and Call prior to Lonesome Dove, and an inconsistent one at that. I'm not going to go into to much detail about how it failed to truly establish and develop the characters to being what we knew and loved in Lonesome Dove, but it will be obvious as you watch it. Overall, Zahn and Urban probably did the best jobs of playing Call and McCrae since Duvall and Jones, but the problem was far more with the source material. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't terrible, but it fell well short of what it could been. You almost get the sense McMurtry was trying to just get this over with, and as a result did a great story a terrible injustice.

I am very impressed with the acting in Comanche Moon. Before I started watching this, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as Lonesome Dove. I couldn't believe how well the actors were chosen to represent all the characters. It blew my mind how well they played each role! This was in my opinion almost as good as Lonesome Dove. Its hard to compare any film to Lonesome Dove. If you don't make that comparison, I would give this a thumbs up. It was very entertaining! I don't post many comments on this site, but I just felt I had to get my opinion out there. Amazing! I don't want to go off naming every actor who was brilliant, because I would probably have to list every single one. My favorite was Steve Zahn. He hit the nail on the head playing Captain Gus. His mannerisms were perfect.

I can't believe how many bad reviews I've read about Comanche Moon. Don't listen to any of them. At first, I was very worried that Steve Zahn wasn't going to be able to meet my expectations for a young Gus, but I was absolutely amazed!! He was fantastic and I am so glad they picked him to play Gus's part. I wasn't super impressed with Karl Urban's performance, but it was still much better than I expected. Val Kilmer's character was very enjoyable to watch. He pulled off a very original and humorous performance. I also thought that the young fellow playing 7 year-old Newt did a great job. I've got a feeling we'll see him in many more movies.In my opinion, Lonesome Dove will always be the pinnacle of all westerns. Comanche Moon was a very worthy prequel and, although not required to understand Lonesome Dove, was very enjoyable. I can't wait for it to come out on DVD!!