Remember the Alamo, forget about Texas Rising

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This article was published 23/05/2015 (4109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They tell you down in the Lone Star State not to mess with Texas.

But is it messing with Texas to say that Texas is, well, kind of a mess?

The ambitious new miniseries Texas Rising boasts a stellar cast and offers some impressive old-time-western production values, but its script is hog-tied by weak character stereotypes and a story that seems to plod in circles rather than mounting a charge toward an inevitably triumphant ending.

Texas Rising, which premières Monday (Memorial Day in the U.S.), comes from the production team that created (U.S.) History Channel’s huge 2012 hit, Hatfields & McCoys. The network (and its Canadian counterpart) are clearly banking on similar success from this five-part, 10-hour epic, but that will only happen if viewers embrace the spectacle and forgive the considerable narrative shortcomings.

The series focuses, as the title suggests, on a bloody and turbulent historical period in which Texas rebelled against Mexico on the way to becoming an independent republic and, later, the 28th U.S. state.

The story opens in 1836, in the immediate aftermath of the Mexican army’s conquest of the Alamo Mission. Many miles away, Gen. Sam Houston (played by Bill Paxton) is plotting the “Texian” army’s next move; he realizes his ragtag group is undermanned and poorly equipped, so he resists the pleas of his underlings to mount an immediate revenge attack against Mexican Gen. Santa Anna’s (Olivier Martinez) massive and well-trained force. He chooses to retreat and regroup, ceding more territory to Santa Anna while gathering enough troops and weaponry to ensure at least a fair fight and an even chance at victory.

Houston’s trusted advisers include veteran Texas Ranger Deaf (pronounced “Deef”) Smith (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a shrewd strategist who remains battle-ready despite declining health, and Billy Anderson (Brendan Fraser), a Ranger whose mixed blood affords him a unique understanding of Comanche Indian tactics.

As it lopes along with Houston’s slow progress toward a counterattack, the Texas Rising storyline also follows Santa Anna’s ruthless campaign and the vengeance-fuelled effort of a lone Alamo survivor named Lorca (Ray Liotta) to escape the territory held by Mexican forces and return to his Texian comrades.

Texas Rising’s scriptwriters work hard at lightening the mood by including characters — boisterous would-be Rangers Yancey Burns and Truett Fincham (Dillon Lane, Adam Hicks), and weasel-ish deserter Ehpraim Knowles (Justified’s Jeremy Davies) — whose sole purpose seems to be providing moments of comic relief.

And it’s their presence that also points to Texas Rising’s bigger problem — an abundance of painfully stereotyped characters and situations. Basically, it all boils down to this: Texians good; Texas Rangers REALLY good; Indians bad; Mexicans REALLY bad.

There’s little in the first few episodes to suggest the outcome will be anything but predictably and jingoistically triumphant.

Texas Rising looks great, and features some admirable performances by actors whose work transcends the dialogue with which they’ve been saddled. But in the end, this messy Texas tale will likely prompt viewers to forget about watching long before the Alamo is avenged.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @BradOswald