After ten years, this cancelled TV present starring Jason Momoa has gained a brand new life streaming on Netflix — and it’s already made it on the platform’s prime 10 hottest reveals chart.
The Crimson Highway ran for simply two seasons between 2014 and 2015 on the SundanceTV channel and obtained typically blended opinions from critics.
Nonetheless, the present had quite a lot of followers who lastly have a straightforward strategy to watch it, and, on the similar time, it’s an thrilling new present for Netflix subscribers unaware of it.
Watch With Us breaks down why it’s best to try The Crimson Highway this week.
‘The Crimson Highway’ Has a Compelling Premise
The Crimson Highway stars Momoa as ex-con and Indigenous tribe member Phillip Kopus, residing among the many Ramapo Mountains in New York. Native sheriff Harold Jensen (Martin Henderson) begins investigating the disappearance of a school lady, which slowly begins to unravel his life and places him on a collision course with Kopus. Kopus’ return from jail threatens to disrupt the shaky peace that’s been maintained in his absence, because the lady’s disappearance additional drives a wedge between the townsfolk and the tribe.
The Crimson Highway begins off in a terrific place, with each a fascinating thriller premise and a battle between characters from drastically completely different worlds. However the sequence additionally has a real-world inspiration, too: the storyline really attracts from the Ramapough Lenape Nation in Ringwood, New Jersey, who have been poisoned by waste from the close by Mahwah Ford Motor Firm facility throughout the Nineteen Sixties and ’80s.
‘The Crimson Highway’ Options One among Jason Momoa’s Finest Performances
If there was one factor that critics and viewers might agree on when it got here to The Crimson Highway, it was that Momoa provides a incredible efficiency as Phillip Kopus. Because the ex-con making an attempt to make his life higher, Momoa exudes an understated energy — he’s a personality with rather a lot occurring beneath the floor. Thus, he wants an actor who is ready to carry out a fragile stability of exhibiting simply sufficient on the skin, whereas carrying far more inside him. Viewers of the present lauded Momoa’s means to just do that, giving Kopus’ character the required emotional depth and nuance.
Whereas Kopus is one thing of a “unhealthy seed,” he’s additionally a sympathetic character that you simply wanna root for. There may be presumably no higher actor to have performed such a character than Momoa, and there are clear similarities along with his efficiency of Sport of Thrones‘ Khal Drogo. Momoa portrays Kopus’ volatility with an intense physicality, whereas additionally expressing his standing as a “unhealthy man with a coronary heart of gold.” Regardless of Kopus’ actions, it’s clear that he experiences profound interior battle, which makes him not only a character, however a human being. Momoa handily imbues empathy right into a morally advanced character.
The Present’s Sudden Reputation on Netflix May Revive It
Jason Momoa and Lisa Bonet in The Crimson Highway James Minchin / © Sundance Channel / Courtesy: Everett Assortment
Whereas Fits may not have wanted a by-product after the unique sequence discovered stunning renewed success when it was added to Netflix, a brand-new set of eyes and a formidable quantity of streams might very nicely propel The Crimson Highway into a 3rd season. The very fact of the matter is that season 2 led to such a method that it instantly necessitated a 3rd season, but it was by no means given. Followers have been outraged after the cancellation succeeded season 2’s cliffhanger ending.
November noticed some incredible additions to the Netflix TV library. There are many thrilling new sequence developing in December, reminiscent of Citadel Rock and The Abandons. However Watch With Us needs to focus on reveals added over the previous month that it’s essential try now. This month, our picks embrace the hit Netflix unique present […]
The Crimson Highway has severe potential regardless of the blended opinions from critics, who nonetheless highlighted the movie’s qualities, reminiscent of Momoa and Henderson’s performances. Some critics even famous that if solely the sequence had stronger writing, it might have been a lot better. Maybe Netflix ought to be aware of the recognition of this little, cancelled present that would and permit it a second likelihood at life. They’ve finished it earlier than (see: Arrested Growth), so there’s a great likelihood that followers of The Crimson Highway might get the ending they at all times needed.
