Come for the scenery, stay for Eric Bana in a new Netflix murder mystery.
After playing a Federal Agent examining a mystery the high country for The Dry II, Eric Bana now plays a US Federal Agent doing just that in Yosemite National Park.
Untamed is a new six part series for Netflix. This time Bana plays Kyle Turner whose day is disrupted by the discovery of a young woman’s body having fallen from sheer roackface, El Capitan.
Make no mistake, if murder mystery is not your thing, you could just as easily sit back and partake of the spectacular scenery of this saga. If it looks magnificent on your Apple TV screensaver, it is equally so in the Netflix miniseries.
But back to the story.
Kyle is teamed with new recruit ranger Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago) who has relocated from the city to work for park ranger Paul Souter’s (Sam Neill) team.
But Kyle is a lone wolf, who still rides a horse, talks to native Americans through seasoned local Jay (Raoul Trujillo) and has brought all his tracker instinct with him from The Dry.
Nobody knows who this Jane Doe victim is, but Kyle is determined to get to it at the same time as Paul is under pressure to ensure panic does not impact a brisk tourism trade.
Kyle has also separated from ex wife Jill (Rosemarie DeWitt) for reasons which will soon emerge, although the two can’t seem to move on. He drowns his sorrows in booze, gazes longingly at the night sky and dwells continuously in the past.
Young mum Vasquez will also have to prove herself to Kyle if she’s to carve out a place in this male-dominated environment.
There’s a high dose of character history from writers Mark L. Smith & Elle Smith and spiritual themes are never far away. Sometimes it leans into earnest melodrama but the series works best when brooding Eric Bana is left to underplay the crime drama.
So much can be conveyed from his plaintive expression alone in the wilderness without need for dialogue or foreground conflict. Sam Neill is so reliable at these kinds of roles it isn’t demanding of his talents at all, which is a bit disappointing.
Cinematographers Michael McDonough and Brendan Uegama also bring rich forest greens to these locations, pretty special on your big screen TV.
Directors Thomas Bezucha, Nick Murphy, and Neasa Hardiman keep this as a slowburn series but with Eric Bana as the driver you’re in good hands.
Come for the scenery, stay for Eric Bana.
Untamed is now screening on Netflix.