Why you should watch Godless
Gritty, grimy and, at times, pretty grim, Netflix’s new western is nevertheless filled with some terrific performances, gripping tension and some memorable dialogue, writes James Croot.
Those acutely missing either Westworld or Deadwood should check out Netflix’s latest oater Godless. The seven-part Steven Soderbergh-produced series aims to do for 1860s cowboys what The Knick did for turnof-the-20th-century surgeons, bringing them to visceral and compelling life.
From the opening scene, it’s clear dust, death and decay will dominate the drama.
Like Sam Waterston’s Marshal Cook, we’re witness to the apocalyptic aftermath of Frank Griffin’s (Jeff Daniels) rage.
A heist gone awry, thanks to the intervention of his former partner Roy Goode (Jack O’Connell), has resulted in blood-soaked carnage, with only one passenger left alive. Even the seemingly indestructible Griffin has taken a bullet to the arm, although like Monty Python’s black knight, he sees it as a mere scratch.
‘‘I seen my death, this ain’t it,’’ he pithily tells the doctor he enlists to amputate the offending limb.
‘‘There’s nothing more dangerous as a man who has lost his shadow,’’ he further warns anyone who’ll listen, as he begins a seemingly relentless pursuit to hunt down Goode, regardless of the collateral damage.
Despite the name though, Goode certainly is no saint either. ‘‘Even though he stole from the crooked, he didn’t give a dime to nobody,’’ is one blunt assessment. And his arrival on Alice Fletcher’s (Michelle Dockery) remote farm is greeted with a bullet to the throat. But she begrudgingly takes him in, even attempting to put local Sheriff Bill McNue (Scott McNairy) off his trail.
The Sheriff has his own demons as well, perhaps partly because he’s one of the few men in La Belle, New Mexico, who didn’t die in the tragic mining accident.
Gritty, grimy and, at times, pretty grim, Godless is nevertheless filled with some terrific performances, a luscious T Bone Burnett soundtrack (O Brother Where Art Thou?, Cold Mountain), gripping tension and some memorable dialogue.
It’s great to see The Newsroom team of Waterston and Daniels reunited, while Good Behavior’s Dockery delivers another career curveball that will bury any suggestion of a career defined by Downton’s Lady Mary.
The deep bench of supporting talent also includes The Maze Runner’s Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Nurse Jackie’s Merritt Wever.
However, the lion’s share of the kudos should go to writer-director Scott Frank.
He brings much the same brilliant evocation of space and place as he did to his big-screen efforts A Walk Amongst the Tombstones, The Wolverine, Logan and Minority Report (the latter three as just a writer).
This is a tale that evokes memories of the best of John Ford and Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, set amongst a backdrop where life is nasty, brutish and short.
Fans of facial fuzz have plenty to get excited about, while a standoff between a baby and a snake and Griffin’s audacious and arrogant ride into the middle of the church service provide the near feature-length first episode highlights.
A kind of reverse Fugitive, Godless seems to be setting up our ostensible hero (or is he?) to be relentlessly pursued by a one-armed man. I for one can’t wait to see how it all pans out.
❚ Godless is streaming now on Netflix.