FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

kevastaclhart We just finished watching this series on Netflix. I must say that I found this to be very well written and very well acted. It was nice to be able to watch a series that makes you want to see the next episode. Hell on Wheels isn't just a western and regardless of how accurate it may or may not be to actual history it gives you a look into the past and the sense of what life was like during that time in U.S. history.I would highly recommend Hell on wheels to all viewers however there are a few graphic scenes throughout.

croco dopolis After watching all five seasons of "Hell on Wheels" I feel I am being kind by giving it a rating of 7 out of 10. Unfortunately the excellent cinematography, breathtaking landscapes, creative sets, fanciful costumes, and all of the mud do not redeem its ridiculously implausible interpersonal relationships, anachronisms, and (in too many cases) shallow character development. The producers could not have come up with a better duplicate of the original "Django" protagonist Franco Nero; Anson Mount's steely gray eyes peering out from under his wide-brimmed hat are a direct rip from the opening bar scene of Corbucci's 1966 classic. Colm Meany's portayal of the seemingly ruthless robber baron is well-played, but too watered down to allow us to despise him for the fraud he actually is. The other supporting characters come and go in an endless parade of preposterous scenarios, in some cases even more ridiculous than the make-up and plastic noses of the Italian-Americans portraying "redskins" on old episodes of "Wagon Train" or "Gunsmoke". I will concede that the series is engaging. The little operettas play out as each new character comes and goes, keeping us intested enough to keep watching without being interesting. Rather than developing the character and letting them be part of the plot development, the writers instead choose to simply kill them off, thereby eliminating any necessity for further creative plot development. Rife with little anacrhonisms which are in most cases easily overlooked, the completely ridiculous relationships between characters of different colors causes the entire series to become farcical. The notion that a black man would be working along side a white man in the post-Civil War reconstruction era is laughable at best. Moreover, the introduction of characters who are (presumably) based on real-life figures takes it out of the realm of "fantasy western" and into what some mistakenly might perceive as something with some factual historical basis. This is taken in the end far past any limits of absurdity in the final episode, when we are introduced to a famous military character ostensibly to further plot development, but more likely the writers' inability to pull a more convincing rabbit out of their hat. As with "Forrest Gump", the series is fun to watch and full of action - from fist fights to train wrecks and everything in between - but is nonetheless completely lacking in any depth or meaning. If only the writers had strived to show us something of substance about who the characters were, and how they would have really behaved in the post-Civil War era as much as they strived to show us that the towns of the old American west were mud pits, they would have really had a winner. Alas, it's just another big-budget pot-boiler.

SnoopyStyle Former Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) travels west to Union Pacific Railroad construction to seek revenge on Union soldiers who massacred his family. He ends up supervising the roadroad's construction run by crooked businessman Thomas Durant (Colm Meaney) who uses every means to stay in charge. Along the way, there is Elam (Common) who leads the negro workers, the surveyor's widow Lily Bell (Dominique McElligott), maddening villain Thor "The Swede" Gundersen, the McGinnes brothers, whore Eva tattooed on her chin by her Indian captors, Reverend Nathaniel Cole and his daughter Ruth, Mormon Naomi Hatch who becomes Bohannon's second wife, and many, many more.It's a vast compelling story led by two great performers. Anson Mount has the perfect gruff, sincerity, and a great flawed hero. Colm Meaney never disappoints. Common is a revelation and deserves more compelling acting chances. Christopher Heyerdahl is simply incredible as The Swede. The show ran for five seasons. There is a rotation of main characters over the years. This leaves the show with a sense of grinding down especially the last season. It starts with Lily's death at the end of the second season and then Elam's death in season four. The show also takes side trips which could be interesting but diverts from the main railroad setup. The construction also moves which forces the show to keep moving. The landscape is beautiful. It's a solid drama that has to end when the railroad is completed.

swilliky The epic Western series about the transcontinental railroad came to a close tonight after five seasons, the last split in half. The story of Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) had plenty of twists and turns as he worked and led the crew of the Union Pacific and then the crew of the Central Pacific to cross the straight through the harsh land of the, not yet, United States of America. The show did not shy way from the troubled times that these were and did not lionize any of the iconic characters.Thomas Durant (Colm Meaney) was the corrupt financier of the Union Pacific and with Meaney's acting, this shady individual felt fully fleshed out. At times, I rooted for him and at others despised him. The characters were easy to love including Eva Toole (Robin McLeavy) a young woman captured by Native-Americans and tattooed on her chin, Mickey McGinnes (Phil Burke) Irish bar owner and pimp, Louise Ellison (Jennifer Ferrin) an intrepid reporter who won't even let possibly fatal illness or chance of death stop her from covering the story of the railroad. Plenty of other great characters came and went through the series like Common as Elam Ferguson and Christopher Heyerdahl as the villainous Swede.Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com