Not even bad in a good way

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

With its roots in the civil war in the Kentucky Virginia area, the Hatfields and McCoys feud is as epic as any in the literary world. That's why this series works so well. If Shakespeare is alive today, he would definitely write a play about them. This is iconic American history.Two veteran big name actors anchor this series. Kevin Costner plays the leader of the Hatfields, 'Devil' Anse Hatfield. Bill Paxton plays the McCoys elder Randall. By placing such steady hands at the helm, the foundations is set solid. This History channel production is shocking because of its great production value. It sets a new bar for the standard that we must expect from now on.

This series resided on my DVR for a full year before viewing. I'm confused. Maybe I lost sight of the forest for the trees. This film seems to do nothing more than what Hollywood consistently does to musicians, portray them as a bad cliché. While production standards are well executed, those are the only things I give kudos to on this production. Costner and Paxton are the standouts in the film, as they are the only two that the film /script allows for any real character development. As there are so MANY players in the film, the rest of the performances get a bit muddied from time-to-time. Im amazed how many night sequences were in this film. I am from WV and I can tell you traveling at night in the woods of WV is simply not possible, especially during that time. The pacing of the film is inconsistent, with at least an hour possible to truncate from its length. What sticks out the most to me, aside from the rushed dialog, is the persistent casual murderous intent and reactions to death. Its a wonder our population grew at all, as everyone seems to look for some minuscule reason to kill, and only care about it to exact revenge to kill some more. Its hard for me to believe that just 150 years ago we were such a nation of savages and sociopaths, at least drug dealers kill each other for business reasons. Or is it, we ( West by-God Virginians actually weren't as bad as the film portrays but, once again, are stereotyped for entertainment purposes? Lastly, the still-framed epilogue of the film runs by so fast and is so incomplete, that a lot of the real questions never get answered, in other words 5 hours of film, and then a summarization that last only a few seconds and barely addresses the key points of story, characters, and outcome. I don't need to see this one twice.

As a Canadian I have a somewhat different take on the American western. In film school we studied it as a genre, rather than as history. Director Reynolds, with the same deep interest most Texans hold in their hearts for the genre, gives us a wonderful, poignant entry to this genre. Costner pursues his abiding love of Westerns, after two marvellous directorial efforts in the genre and even more forays as an actor.The wonderful thing about both Kevin Costner and Kevin Reynolds is that they strive to make their westerns as both history and contributions to the genre.As a French Canadian I also tend to place each film I see in a sort of continuity within an artist's evolution rather than as a singular piece of art. As such it has merits beyond itself. Its more of a European bias that allows me to love a film for its non diagetical qualities. Remnants of the "Nouvelle Vague" way of looking at film.The Hatfields & McCoys, beyond its own merits as a western or as an historical reference point (and it has many merits) is another chapter in the collaboration and artistic exchange between Reynolds, and Costner. This one seems to be a very healing experience, after the very painful ones of Robin Hood (1991) and Waterworld (1995).Reynolds is the director who launched Kevin Costner way back when in 1985, when he cast him in Fandango. In 1990, when Costner turned his hand at directing for the first time with another western, the very risky Dances With Wolves, he turned to his friend Reynolds for advice. He even went to far as to give him "special thanks" acknowledgement in the end credits.After over twenty five years of ups and downs it is satisfying to see them collaborating again. It is great to have them finding success and recognition together. Hopefully there will be more to come.

HATFIELDS & McCOYS is well-acted and well-filmed. According to some other reviewers, many of the historical fine points are inaccurate. Nevertheless, it relates the basic story very well, and, most importantly, gives an impartial dual-focus of the two clans and the complex nature of their snowballing feud.The whole flavor of the film is that of a very good made-for-TV Western--or perhaps "Eastern" is the proper term. By necessity, of course, it's repetitively violent and full of shoot-'em-ups, hangings, and such, and is often rather depressing, with little humor or any other form of relief. Many may find this 290-minute TV miniseries a bit hard to watch in one or two nights. Still, it's a very captivating story whose beautiful scenery provides excellent contrast with its grim plot. Actually filmed in the Carpatian Mountains of Romania (!), but, aside from some stagey-looking buildings, it could have fooled me into thinking I was looking at authentic Appalachia.