Numerootno
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
Tyreece Hulme
One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
jolleyangel
It took me a few seasons, but I think these writers definitely have a bone to pick with Christianity. The first preacher was a weirdo who turned into a drunken whacko. The second preacher was a female (and this is 1860?) who was having sex on the side. Then they bring in the Mormons and totally portray them as vengeful murdering crazy's. Every chance they get they're portraying spirituality incorrectly with an overtone of whackiness. I know bishops and pastors aren't perfect, but they're made to look very hypocritical. It's quite sad. My second big issue was their killing off of lily belle. Honestly it's like getting rid of Hannibal of the A-team. She was a very important character, she made a lot of important decisions, there was no replacing her and the show has suffered. It's definitely less meaningful as it was just barely getting exciting with her and Bohannen.Third issue. Bohannen, the main character starts out as having a strong moral character which you're always so happy when he makes good decisions, because you wind up liking him more and more, but very slowly they have him do things you wish he hadn't. And eventually you wind up asking yourself, why root for anymore.
dk-93827
I have no idea how this series got a 5 star rating on Netflix. Terrible acting, inconsistent, improbable plot lines, and just poor production all around. It seems every character goes from good guy to bad guy, back to good guy. Then when the improbability of the character's actions become too inexplicable, they try to cover it up by making them insane. I'm embarrassed for anyone associated with it.
charles-dreyer
"Hell on Wheels" is the story of the building of the great Continental railroad, or more precisely the story of the Hero, Cullen Bohannon, and his exploits.There are several antagonists along the way, with Colm Meaney's Thomas "Doc" Durant the most prominent.This has a similar feel to the dynamic in "Deadwood", with the 2 main characters playing off one another to great effect. Bohannon wears a black hat and is a troubled soul. Joe and Tony Gayton take full advantage of the long form. Anson Mount's Cullen Bohannon matures in front of our eyes. He gets better with age. Hang in there if you are having trouble connecting to the characters at the beginning. This show gets better every season. It is, in the end, quite good, right up there with "Deadwood". A real western- you can almost smell the muddy animals and men.C
wtmerrett
The premise is good and the story line is interesting but the execution of that story line is sadly missing. What I mean by this is they had all the tools to do an accurate depiction of what is was like to live and breathe during the building of the transcontinental railroad across America. But they dropped the ball big time and insulted their viewers in doing so. To begin with, all railway tracks are laid on huge wood sleepers that are placed close together on top of well packed gravel rail beds. Never on widely spaced sleepers over grasslands. To show the later is insulting and shows that the producers , in trying to save money did not think it was important enough to do it right or that the audience would care. They are wrong. It stops the story cold and takes away from everything else that is going on, on screen as you notice this huge error. Then they show a track rounding a curve that no train on the planet would be able to make and once again don't give a crap that it is wrong. Once again to save money. I have had more then one argument with Directors or DOP's on set when they decided to shortcut somewhere for a shot that is a mistake and would be noticed by someone and when called on it they say it is "Artistic Licence" What a load of crap! In fact a good number of the hard working crew on Hell on Wheels are guys I worked with during my 16 years in the business and I know the Production Designer John Blackie very well. The characters are for the most part all caricatures of people who would be drawn to that life and it's possibilities and we never get to know them well enough to care about them. We are expected to like Anson Mounts character but he does nothing to let us like him. he is walking through the roles based upon his looks. Not good enough. Common plays a freed slave and is just as you expect his character to be. He is the one person who makes this series watchable. I am glad that my old friends on the crew are working and know that for the most part they have zero input into the finished product that is aired to the public. I just wish that producers would put as much effort into the product on screen as they do in getting the deal put together.
