Into the Badlands (AMC) (1 Viewer)

AMC's latest series, from "Smallville" developers/showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, premieres tonight at 10/9c immediately following a new episode of "The Walking Dead", with "Talking Dead" pushed to 10:55.



A loose adaptation of the 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West, it is set in a dystopian future America where there are no guns. Society has devolved backwards, until a feudal system that seems like a cross between the Dark Ages and the antebellum South has become entrenched, with the the local territory divvied up by seven barons.

The result is a dizzying genre mashup that makes shows like "The Wild, Wild West", "Kung Fu" and "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." seem positively tame by comparison. While the primary influence seems to be Asian martial arts epics, the handful of reviews I've read have thrown in references to Western, fantasy, noir, medieval, Southern, crime drama, steampunk, and even The Wizard of Oz.

The show stars American-born Hong Kong film star Daniel Wu as Sunny, the top warrior for Quinn, one of the most powerful of the barons (played by New Zealand actor Marton Csokas) due to his control of the opium trade.

The show also stars:
Orla Brady ("Fringe", "American Odyssey") as Quinn's first wife
Sarah Bolger (In America, "The Tudors", "Once Upon a Time") as Quinn's soon-to-be second wife
Oliver Stark as Quinn's son

Aramis Knight as Sunny's protege

Emily Beecham as The Widow, a rival baron who controls the oil
Ally Ioannides as Tilda, the Widow's extremely lethal daughter

Stephen Lang (Avatar, "Terra Nova") will recur.

The reviews are mixed, but everybody seems to agree that the fight scenes (directed by Stephen Fung) are pretty great.

I've been looking forward to this series since the promos first appeared. VIsually it looks very striking and I'm curious how the mashup of genres is going to work. I hope my expectations for this series do not outpace its execution.


- Walter.

I think I've been over-advertised to with this show's marketing campaign...

My thoughts after the first hour are pretty easy to sum up: subpar writing, but terrific worldbuilding, production design, cinematography and fight choreography.

Writing was quite poor, but direction was good. Wu needs to improve his line deliveries as well. But I'll watch next week so mission accomplished.

Meh

Pretty much in agreement with Adam and Chuck. The dialogue could use some improvement, but in most other areas the premiere was very effective.


I'm interested in seeing how the world of Into The Badlands is developed. The first big question in my mind is whether the Badlands represents the pinnacle of contemporary civilization (within the show's timeline) or will M.K.'s home (can't remember the city name) prove to be an enclave where technology did not regress (or not so completely). Will the SF themes of a future world be developed in any appreciable sense beyond the setting of the show?


Enjoyed all of the fight cinematography in the premiere. In particular, the slow motion studies in the rain made me think of Hero's fight sequence between Nameless and Sky in the chess courtyard. (That is a compliment, BTW.)


Happy to see Orla Brady in another series and I enjoyed all of Martin Csokas' scenes in the premiere. Looking forward to next week's episode.


- Walter.

I forgot to watch. . .will check it out on demand. I can't remember what movies I had on in the background on Saturday, but I remember the hundreds of ads for this show that ran during them!


I had no idea that there's an element of Journey to the West. Interesting. There are a lot of JttW-themed movies coming out in Asia lately, it seems.

A strange show indeed -- I kept waiting for Burl Ives and Paul Newman to make an appearance! The diaglog was pretty weak and the acting pretty wooden, but visually, it was pretty damn impressive (as someone else pointed out, the use of rain was very effective), but I just don't know what it can say that hasn't been said so many times before in othe dystopian dramas, but I'll hang with it for a few more episodes.

Just wished they give a bit more background about the current state of the world...maybe, that will come later. They do have some modern tech (ie-electricity, cars, etc). But, no guns. I assume its against the law. But, when has that ever stopped people.

No guns - the barons got together and banned them.


Which is foolish and is totally against human nature. I can understand 'going along' with a ban, but then developing them in secret. Heck, there's got to be baron-less people out there, and if they don't have guns, then the show's completely lost me.


I like the idea of having to fight with hands and swords and all that, but to just remove guns from the story by saying 'they were banned' without more explanation - 'there no sulfur in the Badlands' just takes me out of the story.


I'll keep watching to see how all the politics come into play and to find out who the One is (sorry, don't remember the kid's name)

Heck, there's got to be baron-less people out there, and if they don't have guns, then the show's completely lost me.

Click to expand...

We don't know the details of the collapse of civilization. Perhaps the Badlands are the only inhabitable zones on the planet in which case there aren't baron-less folks. I stress the word - Perhaps. If that is the case and the interdiction of firearms (possession, research into technology, historical documentation, etc.) is enforced under punishment of death then a world without firearms might be feasible. One can assume that the barons wish to preserve the status quo; although a plot point of this series is others conspiring against baron Quinn; so maintaining a ban might be in all of the ruling member's interests. In any event, I am really curious to see how the world of The Badlands develops over the course of the next five episodes.


- Walter.

I loved it. I enjoyed the episode in many ways, and I thought the characters were strong in what they are "supposed" to be. Sunny, a Clipper, he is the protector and ass-kicker. Baron, the man that makes the rules, the man in charge. The cocky son that, of course, tells dad he is doing it all wrong. A lot of different story lines in the first episode, will be interesting the direction they all take. I know from some of the behind the scenes, Sunny will struggle with emotions. From always being that trained, heartless killer, to finding love, doubt, and experiencing emotions he is not supposed to have.


The fight scenes were well choreographed and very entertaining. What I truly enjoyed was the 'breaking' of bones. None of this 'just punch a guy and he stays on the ground'. When you want to make a point and end the attack, it is a fight to the finish. And fighting a group, it has to go quick and Sunny finishing the guys off was very entertaining. I just want to scream "Finish Him". Yes some of strikes are over the top with people flying off, but that is what makes it a little different, to have that Kung Fu/Chinese movie feel to it. The guys doing the fight choreography is amazing, love it... keep it coming.

The second episode only deepened my fascination with the world. The way the technology seems frozen at the early twentieth century, complete with antique cars, primitive x-ray machines and emulsion photography, would seem to hint at some sort of EMP that wiped out all of the technology with sensitive electronics. Either that, or whatever events sent society so far backwards also destroyed the capacity to manufacture technology with advanced electronics. Early twentieth century technology would be easier to replicate.


There are interesting King Lear overtones with the terminally ill baron and the question of who will inherit his territory when he is gone. It's complete scenery chewing, but so far Marton Csokas is giving far and away the most engaging performance on the show.


Daniel Wu and Ally Ioannides are captivating in their fight scenes, but less so in their dramatic scenes.

Enjoyed the second episode a lot; and I would agree with Adam on several points (the development of this world continues to intrigue me and I'm really enjoying Marton Csokas' work in the series.) Interesting contrast to what was presented in episode one with the feminine sensibilities of the Widow, as shown in her estate's decoration and the use of butterfly themed shuriken as wielded by Tilda to name two examples. The Widow's fight sequence at the beginning of the episode was well staged. Her use of knives reminded me of House of Flying Daggers just a little bit.


I thought that maybe there were just a bit too many fighters in the factory sequence at the conclusion, but other than that small complaint liked just about everything else.


- Walter.

For those who forgot this had been renewed, as I did, AMC aired a teaser for the second season during last night's "Walking Dead":

This show is deficient in many ways, but "Iron Fist" could learn something from the inventiveness of the action sequences.

Still finishing up the first season, but this is one of the few (only?) action show with truly entertaining fight scenes. I get easily fatigued by the repetitive fight scenes in Shield and Daredevil, but the Badlands fights are just badass.

Shifting the production from Louisiana to Ireland really gave the show some epic vistas to play with outside the walls of the badlands.

Something tells me MK is going to get his tall blonde friend killed with his little act of rebellion.

We finally got a fight between two master clippers, and it didn't disappoint.