Hatfields & McCoys & Brothers in Arms

     I had DVRed Hatfields & McCoys when it was on last week.  If you haven't heard of it, climb out from underneath your rock.  The History Channel had been promoting it fairly heavily, and I was glad to see something on what used to be my favorite channel that actually gave its namesake some meaning.  For the uninitiated, the story revolves around the feud that took place between the titular Hatfield ad McCoy families in the 1880s in the states of Kentucky and West Virginia and how it nearly brought the U.S. into another Civil War.  I just finished watching the final part of the three part miniseries about fifteen minutes ago, and I must say it was phenomenal.
 

Kevin Costner (left) plays Anderson Hatfield while Bill Paxton (the other left) plays Randoph McCoy, the leaders of the two families.  Both portray their characters convincingly.

     Considering the cast is headlined by two AAA-quality actors and the high production values, the series was a shoe-in to be at least decent, but it wasn't content with that.  Without giving anything away, the plot sucks you in within ten minutes of the first episode, and the pace and shifitng of the scenes constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat in anticipation of what happens next and who suffers from the actions of those around him or her.  My sole complaint would probably be that the ending was somewhat anticlimactic, but as with any story based on true events, this is always a possibility.  Not to say that the ending ruined it, but the last major confrontation occurs about half an hour prior to the end of series, with the closing thirty minutes simply picking up the pieces of everything that came before.  While I always prefer plots to be resolved as opposed to ending as soon as the action does, I feel that those higher up could have found a better way to conclude what is otherwise a fantastic miniseries.  Despite my one minor complaint, to quote Ferris Bueller, Hatfields & McCoys really is so choice, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in history or drama films.

     One the one big question that remains for me about the miniseries is, in terms of content, how accurate is it?  I'll have to do some research of my own soon, because I'd really like to know.  As I've mentioned, I'm a sucker for this kind of thing, and i kept telling myself to do some research after I was done watching the final episode.  I'm sure some liberties were taken (they usually are) to make it more interesting, but I hope the basic key facts and happenings were left in tact.  If I find out that the miniseries reeeeaallly stretched the truth, it could hurt my opinion of it in hindsight, but not by much.

     That's all for now.  I'd really like to get in a match of Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood before I hit the hay.  I recently purchased it for the PC, and with some mods I added to it, it becomes a really intense experience.  I feel as if a new game were to be developed with the mods I added as a base, it would have the potential to be incredible.  For anyone interested in seeing what I'm talking about, snoop around the pages on this website.  Someone really needs to step up to the plate and make a new WWII shooter, because I have a fix that hasn't been satisfied since 2008.  All in due time, I suppose.

       Ladies and gentlemen, Foo Fighters bring tonight's entertainment: