I get the feeling that Billy Bob Thornton is one of those guys where the older he gets, the cooler he becomes. I've never really paid much attention to him in the past. Sure, I know he has been in a lot of stuff including Armageddon, Tombstone, Monster's Ball, and about a hundred other credits to his name. It's not that I didn't like him, but he just never "popped" on my radar too much. That has all changed with my recent viewing of the show "Landman" on Paramount Plus.
In case you couldn't tell by the opening photo, it's a show that revolves around the oil industry. The only difference is, it takes place in Texas and not the cold snow covered landscape that you see above. There is a small amount of oil and natural gas they pull from the ground in the area near where I live, but it pales in comparison to the scale represented in this show.
From the opening scene, they make it pretty clear that Thornton's character Tommy Norris is pretty badass. I've gotta be honest, @mrsbozz and I are only about halfway through the first season, but so far, it has been phenomenal. It has a good mix of laughs and drama, plus the right amount of irreverent that most have come to expect from Taylor Sheridan.
It's safe to say Taylor Sheridan is one of the darlings of Hollywood right now. He made a mediocre splash on the small screen with bit parts in shows like Walker Texas Ranger, Dr. Quinn, Party of Five, and most notably Sons of Anarchy where he played a recurring sheriff character.
I have little doubt that Kurt Sutter who was the mastermind of Sons of Anarchy had a great deal of influence on Sheridan, it definitely shows through in his shows. It was shortly after that he was basically told that he would never be an A-List actor, so he decided to turn his attention to writing and producing.
He started off with Sicario, Hell or High Water, and a few other movies before he finally introduced the world to Yellowstone in 2018. Since then, Yellowstone has blown up into one of the hottest shows on TV and a multimillion dollar franchise complete with product branding and all other kinds of stuff.
To his credit, Sheridan has always released a number of other shows while he has been busy running the Yellowstone world like the Sylvester Stallone fronted "Tulsa King", the Jeremy Renner show "Mayor of Kingstown", and finally the Zoe Salanda action show "Lioness".
He has a bunch of other stuff in the works as well, even a new movie that will have Matthew McConaughey in it.
I was really worried at first that Landman was going to just basically be Yellowstone but in Texas, but it has turned out to be anything but that. The plots aren't at all similar with this one focusing on oil mining versus ranching. I was also surprised that Billy Bob Thornton's character isn't the land owner like I expected. Instead, he is more of a "fixer", and he does it so well.
The landowner or as you will quickly learn in the series "mineral rights owner" is played by John Hamm who actually does a pretty amazing job with his role. I used to consider him kind of the butt of Hollywood jokes but he actually does a good job in this show.
I think one of the things I love about the show is how it also kind of educates you a bit about the oil industry in general. It's pretty clear that Taylor either knows his stuff or did a lot of research before he made the show.
Take this scene for example:
It seems to be a pretty realistic breakdown of the misconceptions people have about "alternative energy". It's also got a good amount of humor in it if you continue watching the full clip. I really like the matter of fact way the Thornton presents his character. I really think he crosses the line between not knowing if he is really that cool or he just plays the character that well.
I really only have three drawbacks to the show, if you can really call them that. They are minor to be sure.
First, everytime I hear Thornton talk, I can't help but think I am watching an episode of "King of the Hill". It's interesting how Texans have that kind of lilt to their speech. Actually, I have some relatives who are farmers here in Michigan and they actually have that same tone and inflection in their voices. It's funny to hear them talk knowing they just live about 45 minutes away from the same place I do.
Second, the character of Tommy's ex wife played by Ali Larter is kind of annoying. She's a middle aged child as you will see if you watch the show. I'm not saying it isn't realistic, but it is just a bit annoying. She does add some minor comic relief and she does drive one of the subplots, so we will see where this goes.
Finally, the over sexualization of Tommy's 17 year old daughter is a bit weird, but Sheridan seems to thrive on that sort of thing. In the small acting parts he gave himself in Yellowstone he was a bit of a womanizer and player. I didn't know at the time if he was really like that or he was just playing a character. The fact that he decided to include those plot elements in Landman kind of make me think he might really be like that.
There's another subplot with Tommy's son that I won't get into much here. If you want to learn more about that, you need to watch the show.
In my personal opinion, Landman is one of the best shows out there right now. I came into it expecting a good show, but I didn't expect to be blown away like this. I'm like an addict itching to watch the next episode when @mrsbozz and I finally get some free time again.
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