'American Primeval' review: Violence never stops as rivals clash in the Old West

Since the Golden Age of the Western in the 1940s and 1950s, we’ve seen hundreds of TV series and films with familiar tropes, from the Main Street where everyone hunkers down when a shootout is nigh, to the ruthless old land baron and his adult sons who control the town, to the corrupt sheriff who isn’t worth the tin of his badge, to the saloon where there’s always a piano player in the corner, a poker game in progress and ladies of the evening in rooms upstairs. It’s also remarkable that so many of the folks in these stories seem to have extraordinary dental work and fine hygiene habits, despite the unforgiving conditions.

Of course, there are exceptions that prove the rule, especially in recent years, and that’s most definitely the case with the six-part Netflix series “American Primeval,” which lives up to its name on every level. This is one of the grittiest, grimiest, bloodiest and most chaotic Westerns in recent memory — a bone-rattling and visceral experience that escalates the tension level from episode to episode and plunges us deep into the mud and muck of the 1850s, and the fierce clashes of culture and religion that result in terrible slaughter at every turn.

Let’s put it this way: There’s a scene where howling and hungry wolves are literally at the door, and those wolves are about the fifth most terrifying entities we’ll encounter in this show.

Created and written by Mark L. Smith (“The Revenant”), with Pete Berg (“Hancock,” “Lone Survivor,” “Deepwater Horizon”) directing all six episodes in his usual kinetic and punishingly effective style, “American Primeval” is a work of fiction but is based on the real-life battles between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints aka the Mormons, the U.S. Army and the Shoshone, Southern Paiute and Ute tribes in the 1850s. The premiere episode’s depiction of the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857, in which church members wearing sack-cloth face coverings along with a group of Southern Paiute Native American recruits murder some 120 members of an emigrant wagon train, is masterfully and shockingly immersive — a sequence so horrific you won’t soon shake it off, if ever. Every arrow that pierces skin, every shot that rings out, every primal hand-to-hand combat sequence carries a wallop.

Though “American Primeval” is rooted in that horrific historical event and features some characters based on real-life figures, e.g., Kim Coates (“Sons of Anarchy”) as the ruthless and arrogant Brigham Young, the stories are pure fiction. Over the last two decades, director Berg and Taylor Kitsch have teamed on numerous projects, from the TV version of “Friday Night Lights” to “Battleship,” “Lone Survivor” and “Painkiller” — the latter of which contained Kitsch’s most impressive work, until now.

Kitsch is an anti-hero force as Isaac Reed, a formidable survivalist and loner who has turned his back on the world after his family was murdered. Isaac reluctantly agrees to serve as guide and protector for Sara Rowell (Betty Gilpin) and her son, Devin (Preston Mota). Shawnee Pourier’s Two Moons, a resilient young Shoshone woman who is unable to speak after narrowly escaping a horrific fate, also is along on the journey, which redefines the meaning of “perilous” nearly every step of the way. This formed family comes to depend on one another, to trust one another.

The six-episode arc means there’s never a lull in the action, as the series weaves in multiple storylines that often interconnect. Dane DeHaan goes full Disturbing Dane DeHaan as Jacob Pratt, a Mormon man making his way from Illinois to Brigham Young’s settlement in Utah with his new bride Abish (Saura Lightfoot-Leon), who was forced into the marriage. They’re both victims of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, with Jacob scalped but left to live, while Abish is kidnapped. (Abish’s story arc is worthy of its own series.)

Derek Hinkey is a captivating screen presence as Red Feather, a Shoshone warrior who will make any sacrifice to defend those who pose a threat to his Nation. Joe Tippett is memorable as James Wolsey, an amoral Mormon who leads a violent militia. The great Shea Whigham absolutely owns the role of Jim Bridger, who literally built Fort Bridger, a key outpost that has become a kind of self-sustaining community. Bridger’s one of those guys who knows all the players and works all the angles, and realizes the world is changing and not necessarily in a good way, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

All the people in “American Primeval” look like they smell of sweat and blood. There’s a heightened sense of action that becomes almost exhausting at times; can’t Sara and Isaac and company find even one day’s peace? Still, this series hits the ground running and keeps our pulse pounding to the very end, closing on a note of grace that feels just right.