One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This is a powerful, emotional, and entertaining telling of major events of the settling of the West, and the clash between white settlers and the various Native tribes spread throughout the Western half of the United States. I stumbled upon the series on youtube, I hadn't previously heard of it, which seems astounding since there are so many well known actors/actresses, and the involvement of Steven Spielberg.One of the things I like about the series is the mysticism and spirituality surrounding the medicine wheel and the buffalo. I know it sounds cliché, but I think it was well done, to have as a central theme the stone medicine wheel of the Sioux and the coming of the wheeled wagons across the west. These wagons really did leave permanent scars on the Earth- where I lived in Wyoming there are still remnants of the Oregon Trail and wagon footprints.And I think many Native tribes did have prophecies about the coming of white people and settlers. The use of native languages is particularly appealing to me- I think to truly understand native cultures of the time you need to hear expressions done in their languages. Some of the prophecies have yet to be decided. It was only 20 years after Wounded Knee that the first world war started, followed by the second. We're now engaged in wars in the middle east which have sometimes been prophecied by natives.So many characters, Thunder Heart Woman and Jacob Wheeler standing out in my opinion (many people did not like the actor portraying Wheeler, but I enjoyed his narration and heart centered actions). The violence of the crow raid, the amazing scenes of the bison hunt, the western scenery, and the telling of important historical events are crucial to the tale. Many Americans are still not knowledgeable about the events.The only criticism is that one family might have been around to see and participate in all the historical events. Otherwise, there of course is creative license, but this is one of the best movies/series about the West I've seen.Recently John Trudell, native artist/activist passed away. I highly recommend his spoken word to those who are interested.

This is 6 part min-series, 90 minutes each episode. This is a large scale production for a TV mini-series made by DreamWorks for TNT. It follows mainly 2 families in the 19th century as the wild west gets conquered.One family is the Wheelers. They are wheel makers. Some of the family set out to go west seeking fortune and adventure. The other is a Native American family struggling to fight, survive, and adapt to the invading white world.The production is big but sometimes just not big enough. The first lead Matthew Settle as Jacob Wheeler is just too weak of an actor. The native American actors were generally good. The ever changing characters do not allow for an easy even flow. This is especially true when different actors are used to portray the same character at different ages.The stories are compelling, but the disjointed nature of the stories do disrupt its flow. Overall they make for some good single movies, but not as much as a single storyline.

Into the West is really excellent up to the point of the introduction of the railroad, and then there is a significant decline in quality. Nothing represents this better than the locales chosen for filming. The first episodes look stunning and appropriate for the story, but once the trains start, it looks as if budget and artistic integrity ran out. All scenery and sets make no attempt to be realistic, and certainly not grand, as is the case in the first episodes. Wounded Knee, Little Big Horn, and all prairie scenes look like California's gritty Mojave Desert. What the hell happened?! Also, the acting degenerates. It's as if casting directors went to B-college drama departments and recruited line readers. And let's not forget that the focus of the story that is so clear early on--namely, of presenting an uplifting American saga--degenerates quickly and badly into a ham-fisted,hate-all-white-people screed that leaves one feeling soiled and cheated. The first parts of Into the West are quite good, a 10 really, but the last parts are dreadful, worthy of a 4. And the concept of changing actors for aging characters has to be one of the worst decisions ever made by Stephen Spielberg. Episodes 4, 5, and 6 should be discarded and redone.

I started watching this series and it had me hooked from the start.Very good story,well acted,excellent cinematography.It looked like a sure fire winner to me.OK,so the story jumped about a lot and it was hard to follow at times,but when something is as well made as this it didn't really matter.Matthew Settle was impressive just as he was in 'Band of Brothers' and Tonantzin Carmelo exuded elegance and beauty.It was all falling into place,and then it happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!They only went and changed all of the main actor's half way through.The story had moved forward ten years and everything changed.All of the characters that I had just become used to changed!It was a bizarre decision to say the least and completely destroyed the continuity of the series.Couldn't they have just used make up on the original actor's??The flow of the story changed completely and I struggled to care any more.It left me scratching my head and I still don't know why they did it.Absolutely crazy if you ask me.What could have been a really good series was ruined by this truly strange move.Can someone explain to me why it was done?Can you imagine if they had done this with films like 'The Godfather' or 'The Shawshank Redemption'?OK,I know that two actors were used to play Don Corleone.But this obviously had to be done to show him as a young man.No,this was a plain daft thing to do and I still struggle to see why they did it.Could have been an eight at least,but will now have to settle for a much lower score I'm afraid.