Advance Review: Whereas Justified's Raylan Givens is a dashing, fast-draw trouble magnet, Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire, of A&E's new mystery series Longmire, is a stoic, stubborn, flawed man whose throwback quirks seem more irresponsible than they do endearing. I only bring up Justified because, well, many other critics already have. And this series was able to get its boot in the door because of FX's success, but the connection, if it exists, ends there. Both leading men wear a cowboy hat, and therein lies the entire list of similarities.
Longmire is your dad. He's closed-off to a fault. He mistrusts his own friends. He knows tricks of the cowboy trade and uses his knowledge to make his younger, brasher deputies feel like idiots. Bottom line? He's a depressed dick who's not interested in sharing his experienced insight with his team or developing the next generation of law enforcement. But within that framework, and underneath the grizzle, is a man in pain. And a man who's so much of an anachronism that he resonates as being retro-cool. And in this first episode, we find Walt on his first day, perhaps, "back on the job" after a year-long check-out period brought about by the death of his wife.
I watched this pilot episode a few months back and the first thing that struck me about it was its look. The visual tone set forth by TV director/producer Christopher Chulack (Southland, ER) is grim and enticing. Taking a break from fast-paced city cops and medical teams, Chumack is able to show us the contrasting world of Wyoming's quiet wide-open spaces and the claustrophobic, out of focus inner-world of Walt's anguish. And now that I've re-watched it, I'm happy to say that the tone remains intact. Well, except for a terrible pop-twang song added right at the beginning. Just try and put that tune out of your mind as best you can.
Now I don't know if the visual palate (complete with wind blowing through tufts of hair, etc) will hold, or if this show will merely lapse into more of a run-of-the-mill procedural, but the first episode remains very effective. And "unknown in the States" Aussie actor Robert Taylor gives a commanding, welled-up-eyes performance as Walt, a man who refuses to change with the times. Even "Wyoming times." And while other shows might make you feel like Walt is actually ahead of the curve because he doesn't rely on an abundance of technology, this series actually shows you how it distances him from his own team. Because at a certain point, even though it does come with an eventual payoff, it's kind of downright reckless for a Sheriff to not have a cell phone.
Rounding out the cast is Battlestar Galactica and 24's Katee Sackhoff playing Walt's new-to-the-Wild-West Deputy Moretti, Bailey Chase playing the looking-to-usurp Deputy Connally, Smallville's Cassidy Freeman as Walt's daughter and Lou Diamond Phillips as Walt's longtime friend, Henry Standing Bear. Which brings me another interesting element of Longmire; territorial tensions with the Cheyenne and their reservation. Really, it all just winds up being icing on the cake since Walt has enough trouble getting along with his own team, much less resentful tribal cops. And it helps distinguish this show's unique, badlands setting from the rest of the crime series herd. Longmire, much like its titular hero, might take its time, but the way it mixes grit with grief paints a pretty and powerful picture. Like a framed Ansel Adams photo spattered with blood.
Longmire premieres Sunday, June 3rd at 10/9C on A&E.
Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/03/longmire-pilot-review
