Outer Range Review: On Prime Video The Western Meets The Sci-Fi Mystery | Episode 1 and 2

Cast: Josh Brolin, Lili Taylor, Tamara Podemski, Tom Pelphrey, Imogen Poots and Others

Director: Alonso Ruizpalacios

Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and half star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Outer Range the Prime Video series conceived by Brian Watkins and released on the platform on April 15, 2022, is a meeting of genres, stories and suggestions. The attempt is quite interesting, the result unfortunately less. So we can summarize the Outer Range miniseries, a new Amazon Prime Video production starring star Josh Brolin and a first-rate supporting cast including Will Patton, Imogen Poots and especially Lili Taylor.

The contemporary western embraces the mystery and introspective sci-fi of seriality in recent years. The common denominator is found in the hard face of Josh Brolin, protagonist of the story. It is he who leads us by the hand in this fusion, he who impersonated the Llewelyn Moss of No Country for Old Men and the Tom Chaney of Il Grinta . Not only that, he played Jonah Hex in Jimmy Hyward’s film of the same name and was among the protagonists of the saga on the American frontier by Taylor Sheridan (Sicario ,Soldado). Brolin also recently played Gurney Halleck in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. In short, the actor perfectly embodies the face of the two worlds.

Outer Range Review: The Story

Let’s start by telling the starting idea of ​​Outer Range, created by Brian Watkins: Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin) and his family-run ranch are in great difficulty, even psychological. After the sudden disappearance of his son Perry’s wife (Tom Pelphrey), everything seems to have lost its meaning. Two events, however, radically change things: the arrival in the property of the mysterious autumn (Imogen Poots) and above all a completely inexplicable event, able to open new doors to Royal that cross space and time. But others have also set out on the trail of this supernatural manifestation, in particular the powerful Wayne Tillerson (Will Patton), which seems to know a lot more than it wants to show.

The story of the Outer Range takes us to the Abbott ranch, a ranching family from Wyoming who will be drawn into a web of mystery, where the past has close ties to the present and future of the characters. The protagonist of the series is Royal “Roy” Abbott, patriarch of the family whose life will be intertwined with that of autumn (Imogen Poots), an enigmatic and apparent camper. The man will in fact discover a strange chasm in his lands to the west, a huge hole that seems to transcend space and time and whose origin is closely linked to that of the Abbott and rival family, the Tillersons.

After a fight outside a local in town, Royal’s children Perry (Tom Pelphrey) and Rhett (Lewis Pullman) are involved in a murder that will put a strain on the Abbott family and Roy’s secret. In the meantime, strange events begin to happen in the country that seem to be closely linked to the appearance of the chasm. Outer Range bends the family thriller (the Sons of Anarchy one to be clear) to a writing focused on introspection. The first four episodes introduce the pawns on the pitch, their desires and sufferings. The script seems to sip the answers on the portal, creating a mythology of the series that seems to open up to several seasons. Brian Watkins creates his Outer Range lore.

Outer Range Review And Analysis

As we said, image and sound blend seamlessly into strong sensorial suggestions. The reality around Royal is bent according to his personal point of view, in distorted shots and interesting fades. In Outer Range the touch is serious and grotesque, depending on the reference subject. There is a dense air in the Abbott house, filled with frustration and pain. The silences between the characters are filled with the noises of small gestures. On the contrary, in the land of the Tiller sons the grotesque comes to life, the music is that of pop-country culture and the protagonists are portrayed as eccentric, almost trash ; aspect that reminds us a lot of Preacher. The narrative alternates these two aspects, throwing the tennis ball from one court of personality to another. The Outer Range game is an alienating game, which makes Royal’s alienation the focal point.

The writing takes a lot of time to create the path of the protagonists, focusing more on the murder than on the mystery of the chasm. The latter becomes almost a garbage can, where Royal seems to pour out his problems and those of her children. The first four episodes, out of a total of six, build suspense for some final reveal or possible cliffhanger. Much of what is hidden from us actually suggests easy interpretations, such as a particular moment of the fourth episode that brings Outer Range closer to the aforementioned Dark; but only time will prove us right. Meanwhile, the series seems to involve in many ways, but it could lose those viewers prone to a more eventful and adrenaline-pumping narrative. However, Josh Brolin’s marble and austere gaze could please more groups of audiences.

Josh Brolin, the right actor for the role. The former Brand of the Goonies manages to perfectly capture the various nuances of his character . Royal is the silent man with calloused hands, the iron-hearted family man and an old-fashioned personality who is not very inclined to show emotions, especially with his wife. Although he hides a dark past and different skills when it comes to hiding evidence or gambling. On the same acting level we also find the rest of the cast, from an interesting Lily Taylor as Cecilia Abbott to Will Patton as Wayne Tillerson. The latter embodies the man of the enriched ranch, including bear furs, cowboy hat and gold necklaces. Patton whistles pleasantly in his Wyoming speech.

Outer Range has an excellent cast, able to walk the various routes chosen by their show runner. But not everything is perfect, and in some moments the screenplay expands easily solvable moments or completely breaks the suspense. While the mystery is far from solved, some shocking scenes are missing. It seems compared to a series like Lost , one of the moments of greatest tension and fear was when the passengers realized they were “not alone”. That single sentence managed to make anyone’s arm hair stand on end. Here, the Outer Range is missing the moments we call “we are not alone”, that fulcrum of tension and curiosity that drags you from one episode to another. Whether intentional or not, this is one of the flaws of Brian Watkins’ series, which still manages to bring a product that is not too original, but still interesting to Prime Video.

It certainly does not go better to the surrounding figures, especially to Imogen Poots Autumn which should probably be a catalyst for the fantastic dimension of the Outer Range but soon ends up becoming a further element of confusion. The continuous attempt, all too forced, to make the sci-fi element of the show intriguing then invalidates the narrative effectiveness of the more properly western one, which is re-proposed without too much originality or emotional robustness.

Outer Range Review: The Last Words

Is it all to throw in the Outer Range? Certainly not A few scattered moments are visually powerful, definitely above average for this type of television product. As for the cast, the skill of Lili Taylor stands out, perhaps playing the only real pragmatic and wise character that of a mother (and grandmother) committed to keeping her family together. This may not be enough to promote Outer Range, but at least it makes it quite watchable. We hope that any new seasons will be able to produce a more cohesive narrative between the two genres that the series wants to mix.