Untamed TV Review: Eric Bana leads the beautiful but familiar procedural set in Yosemite National Park
Plot: A character-driven mystery-thriller that follows Kyle Turner, a special agent for the National Parks Service who works to enforce human law in nature’s vast wilderness. The investigation of a brutal death sends Turner on a collision course with the dark secrets within the park, and in his own past.
Review: Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone franchise has cornered the market on contemporary Western series. However, with the expansion into cop shows with Y: Marshals, the floodgates have opened for every streaming service and studio to try their hands at developing similar projects. While many of these shows will be derivative or formulaic, it takes an exceptional talent to try and deliver something that clicks with audiences like Sheridan’s flagship series did. Mark L. Smith and Elle Smith deliver Untamed, a solid drama set in the vast beauty of Yosemite National Park that works well thanks to being a limited series with a solid narrative arc and a stellar leading performance from Eric Bana. While Untamed may be a bit bland in some areas, it is a perfect summer binge option if you want something with just a little substance but not too much.
Untamed, comprised of six episodes, opens with rock climbers scaling the famed El Capitan when a woman’s body plummets from the top. As the park rangers begin their investigation, the case is taken over by Investigative Services Branch (ISB). Arriving on horseback like an old school cowboy, ISB Special Agent Kyle Turner (Eric Bana) is a tough guy of few words who does not get along well with the park rangers, except Chief Paul Souter (Sam Neill), who accepts Turner’s brusque persona. Seeing something more profound in the conflicting evidence that may lead to a case of a human killer rather than a suspected animal attack, Turner is teamed with new park ranger and veteran police officer Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago) to work the case.
Right from the start, Untamed sets up the expected elements of every police procedural. The veteran cop who doesn’t work with partners is teamed with an idealistic rookie to solve the case. The powers that be don’t want feathers ruffled as evidence mounts of a sinister conspiracy underneath. Untamed uses all of the plot points we have seen repeatedly, but it is set apart thanks to Yosemite and Eric Bana. The filming occurred in Vancouver rather than Yosemite, but the natural locations enhance the story. As Turner says in the first episode, the park is the size of Rhode Island, with a hundred thousand visitors weekly, giving the search area the scale of a major city but with the dangers of nature added on. What Yellowstone did for Montana is what Untamed aims to do for Yosemite. The park serves as a character with the space ripe for future seasons should Untamed be a hit with viewers and earn a second volume.
The other key factor is Eric Bana himself. Bana has proven himself to be a talented, woefully underused actor who has been stellar in recent films like A Sacrifice. Bana has also shown his skill at playing an investigator in The Dry and its sequel, Force of Nature, but Kyle Turner is a different role. Turner’s backstory is explored through each episode of Untamed, giving us more insight into his loneliness and where his skills as a detective come from. As we learn what led to his arrival in Yosemite, the series gets an added boost that heightens the intensity of the case he is investigating. Bana is a great leading man, and playing Turner allows him to dig into a character over a longer time than you typically get in a feature film. His drinking problem adds a weakness for Turner that Bana never turns into a crutch or a cliche. Overall, this may be one of Bana’s best performances.
With solid supporting turns from Sam Neill, Lily Santiago, and Rosemarie DeWitt as Turner’s ex-wife, with whom he still shares a strong friendship, Untamed does at times get stuck in the same rut that most procedurals do by revisiting red herrings and dealing with the slog of interviews with suspects and protracted chases. Luckily, the limited episodes keep the story moving, and the momentum rarely slips for long. Created by Mark L. Smith (The Revevant, Twisters) and Elle Smith, Untamed is an interesting use of the procedural in a unique setting. Smith already delivered the outstanding American Primeval for Netflix earlier this year, and, while not quite on the same level as that series, Untamed is a contemporary companion that follows the same Western structure. The Smiths wrote all six Untamed episodes directed by Thomas Bezucha, Nick Murphy, and Neasa Hardiman.
Untamed, anchored by Eric Bana’s excellent performance and the natural beauty of Yosemite National Park, is an engaging mystery that delivers a concrete resolution even though it may not live up to the intensity of the investigation. I had hoped for a flashier ending to this mystery, but at least the journey was enjoyable. Some depth to this story makes it worth watching and commands more attention than Law & Order or other network-caliber cop series. Untamed works well because of the constraints of only having six hours’ worth of storytelling, which keeps the filler and misdirecting to a minimum. I would love to see Eric Bana reprise this character in additional seasons as long as The Smiths stay in charge and keep the story in Yosemite. Untamed is worth checking out.
Untamed premieres on July 17th on Netflix.
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