Klondike (2014)

The Canadian wilderness scenery is spectacular and the cast is even better.

Klondike delivers its dramatic bounty more effectively and compactly [than Black Sails], capitalizing on some of Discovery's favorite obsessions: dangerous vocations, gold prospecting and harsh Alaska-adjacent terrain, in a fictionalized account of the 1897 gold rush.

It's so atmospheric, you'll absolutely feel the brutal cold.

Tremendous footage of mountain treks and river running make the spectacle compelling while the sometimes clunky dialogue gets the message across.

Over the course of six hours it delivers bold, cinematic on-location action, announces itself with sweeping, dramatic dialogue (admittedly, not for everyone) and scatters excellent acting across the small screen.

It’s too late to scrub some of the dialogue, though.... Klondike isn’t always this way. Its one-liners can be nifty in spots.... The miniseries also has some engaging supporting characters in grifter Soapy Smith (Ian Hart) and Haskell’s ad hoc mine mate, Joe Meeker (Tim Blake Nelson).

Exhilarating, terrifying, often moving and only occasionally silly.

If you're expecting the nuanced characterization and complex themes of some other period cable dramas of the 21st century, 'Klondike' will leave you wanting. If you're just asking for an entertaining adventure story with impressive visuals and a solid cast, it does the job.

Scheuring gets sidetracked by the trite redemption stories of a hooker (Conor Leslie) and a Canadian Mountie (Marton Csokas). But those are small hiccups in this entertaining, expansive tale of one man's fight to keep his humanity, which he discovers is more valuable than all the gold in the Yukon.

The scenery in Klondike ... really is impressive, the performances are solid and though the dialogue's sometimes less than natural, the added-for-TV touches mostly make the story more palatable, if no less sad.

There isn't much new in this northern Western, but the scenery is lovely, the acting is solid, and the mix of characters is just what you'd expect from the genre.

'Klondike' is not going to win awards for its lackluster screenplay and penchant for melodrama, but it does have some of the plucky energy you’d enjoy at one of those faux-saloon dinner theaters, where the gradations between good and bad hardly exist. It comes across almost like a musical without any songs, and before long, you’re swept up in its crisp visuals and steady pace.

The series ... is full of the same brutal weather and dubious quests as Discovery’s reality shows, but professional actors ... make it a much more compelling attraction than any of that other fare.

It helps that so much of 'Klondike' was shot on location and without CGI. That makes the series feel especially real and lived, which is key in making a project like this one work.

If the lavish production doesn’t quite strike gold, it comes close enough to encourage further exploration.

Klondike isn’t half as good a televised novel as it is a parade of landscape photography punctuated by archetypal Western exploits.

There are many fine moments in 'Klondike,' cinematic scenes of grandeur and dialogue that rise to poetry. But too often both then fall prey to self-conscious staginess, many repetitive scenes of dirt and endless conversations about the animal nature of man.