An Epic Journey in the Old West: "Godless"
Set in 1880s American West, Frank Griffin — notorious outlaw — seeks to run down his former protégé, Roy Goode, who has made for the town of La Belle, New Mexico and is predominantly female. La Belle in its turn stands on the verge of being overwhelmed by Griffins murderous gang. The viewer is treat to an intense survival, betrayal, and determination plot with all the many elements that are happening, weaving a story that makes you sit on the edge of your seat.
The many themes of power, loyalty, and redemption this series explores, all taking place in the dusty, unforgiving terrain of the West. What it does effectively challenge is the traditional gender roles by offering up strong female takes charge in the face of danger. More thoughtfully than most Netflix series, ‘Godless’ strikes the right balance between suspense and emotions, always keeping you interested, despite never quite sinking just down enough to fully feel the melancholy.
The acting in ‘Godless’ is topnotch. As Frank Griffin, it feels like your heart is sinking as Jeff Daniels delivers a chilling performance. Its an impressive balance of both intensity and vulnerability from Jack OConnell in the role of Roy Goode. Michelle Dockery especially stands out as Alice Fletcher, strong, resilient and a portrayal that is not to be missed. Under Scott Franks direction Godless manages to retain the raw of essence of a western while reimagining it with modern sensibilities. The series rich narrative structure and complex character development are all testament to Franks meticulous craftsmanship. Carlos Rafael Riveras score additionally complements the series mood beautifully, highlighting his ability to balance multiple storylines in maintaining narrative coherence. Uneven moments increase the dramatic peaks and valleys of the plot, and it uses music to accentuate moments of tension and relief. The cinematography, by Steven Meizler, is simply breathtaking, and enriches the viewing experience, immersing the audience deeper into the Western landscape.
Visually stunning in their wide, expansive shots of the Western landscape, they ush in a culture of awe and respect for natures beauty and brutality. The production design of Godless is authentically recreating 1880s with meticulous attention to detail, which gives depth and texture to the storytelling. The absence of special effects in Godless is left for the action sequences to convince on screen without ruining the credibility of the period setting or the costumes and props so period accurate it seems to drip milling from the weathered buildings of La Belle to the period accurate costumes and props.
The use of special effects in Godless, is subtle and a touch surrealist without being in your face distracting quality using not so much edge but peoples expectations These effects make Godless feel tense and the stakes feel so palpably high that they don’t add anything you would not expect from a Western, they’re just about where they need to be.|The Godless editing is sharp and precise, guiding the narrative through its seven episodes. Michelle Tesoros editing is able to mesh all of the narrative threads beautifully while keeping it at a nice tension, drama, character development pole.
Godless also holds the interest of the viewer with a pace that builds up suspense and then continues working hard at the drama. Godless slows its story down so as to breathe time for thorough character exploration and a good enough narrative arc.|The dialog in Godless is a thing of precision, pulling off the rough and terse communication style of the time. The few lines of dialogue littered with typos work beautifully to establish character motivations and emotions with a single glance or sparse exchange, but more importantly, the whole thing effectively showcases how Godless knits an atmosphere full of tension seamlessly into the story.
On the other hand, the pacing of Godless is hit and miss; especially in its set pieces. While some of these subplots are interesting — some would have even benefited from tighter editing. That being said, this series has a climactic resolution and good, solid character arcs.|Godless works as a very solid entry into the Western genre, giving it a much needed female centric storyline and very fleshed out characters. Exceptional performances, stunning cinematography and an incredible plot make this one of the best series and makes viewers both satisfied and thinking about the themes afterwards.
