Comanche Moon

LOS ANGELES - Hard to deem, but it's been approximately two decades since the glorious serialization Western saga "Lonesome Dove" came equine through CBS in 1989.

It's considered by many to be the luxury series of all time, and yet it to lose the Emmy that year to "War and Remembrance." No matter. It's a model. So when you beseech the "Dove" name, you'd in good health be arranged to pale by comparison -- even if you're Larry McMurtry, the author of the Pulitzer Prize-victorious fresh on which the drama was based.

For "Comanche Moon," his "Dove" prequel, McMurtry allied forces with "Brokeback Mountain" partner Diana Ossana (who together won Oscars for that screenplay) to modify the innovative into this six-hour horse performance that's happy with some emotive scenes but too much insubstantial argot. It isn't appeal three nights of everybody's life, even if it carves a assembly of memorable moments into the mix.

Steve Zahn steps in for Robert Duvall as the hard- and emotional Gus McCrae, and Karl Urban subs for Tommy Lee Jones as the hard-driving Woodrow F. Call. They don't come close to coordinating . As Gus, Zahn is off and on pining and weird; as a morose Call, Urban reminds us of an deadpan statue. Their interaction together is not at all evident.

"Moon" catches up with our heroes as semi-early Texas Rangers when they join up with Captain Inish Scull (Val Kilmer), a Yankee lady and hero of the newly decided Mexican War, as they hunt across a pre-Civil War Texas for a Comanche main (Wes Studi), a charger robber (Adam Beach) and a Mexican fugitive (Sal Lopez). The quest stretches across all three nights of the mini, emotive in a linear style that nonetheless takes too many side journeys to amount hue. Those have the inappropriate effect of detracting from the histrionic impact of the narrative, which in the McMurtry-Ossana is in veracity less a solid piece than a string of that give us awareness into prairie life during a contending time in the Old West.

Kilmer travels far over the top to a place of complete arrogance. He's pretty much all over the map in his functioning. But at the same time, he's quite the hoot, this more for than trustworthiness. Zahn and Urban are bickering and largely . The ladies tend to fare healthier, having the more intriguing characters: Rachel Griffiths as a gloriously over-the-top, ballbusting (and Kilmer's wife); Elizabeth Banks ("Scrubs") as Maggie, the fledgling prostitute with a core of gold and Woodrow's gal; and Clara (Linda Cardellini of "ER"), a smarty-pants, impertinent dame who leads Gus around by the nose.