Blu-ray review: Texas Rising

While the Lone Star state’s settlers struggled for independence against Mexico, the History channel struggled for credibility in the fantastical melodrama Texas Rising.

The five-part series now arrives via a pair of Blu-ray disks (Lionsgate Home Entertainment, not rated, $29.99) to allow binge-watchers to shake their noggins by the loose interpretation of the events surrounding the Texas revolution and formation of the state’s beloved rangers.

Viewers get roughly 7.5 hours of babbling and some occasional, ultra-violent action delivered in a widescreen 2.40:1 presentation from Academy Award-nominated director Roland Joffe (“The Killing Fields”).

The cliché-riddled series never quite elevates the real characters such as Gen. Sam Houston (Bill Paxton), Deaf  Smith (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Henry Karnes (Christopher McDonald) and William “Bigfoot” Wallace (Robert Baker) to the level of rock-star rebels as seen in History’s recent America Revolution series “Sons of Liberty.”

However, each hero arrives slathered in a thick layer of John Wayne machismo while stuck in overtly soap-operatic world of war and love.

After actually reading about the fight for Texas’ independence and statehood, it’s painfully apparent the creators take enormous liberties with the facts and real characters.

For example, Emily West (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) never was at the Alamo, never had a brother at the Alamo, never slept with Gen. Houston and was never a spy for him when she lived with Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna (Olivier Martinez). Her contribution as the “Yellow Rose of Texas” is a myth at best, according to historians.

Worse yet, important characters in the T.V. series never existed.

Take the case of Billy Anderson (Brendan Fraser), the white man raised by Indians. He is a rugged, man-of-few-words ranger instrumental in the destruction of Vince’s Bridge, a possible escape route for the Mexican army during the Battle of San Jacinto. Mr. Fraser plays him a bit goofy, and he’s a fun guy to watch in action but pointless to the actual event.

Or, better yet, the most ludicrous of all characters is a guy named Lorca, played with fanatical gusto by Ray Liotta. After surviving the Alamo while hiding in a pile of dead bodies, he goes on a Mexican-killing bender like a serial killer.

He was apparently so traumatized by the events of the Alamo that his Texas drawl has become a slight New York accent.

That’s too bad, as well as unnecessary, as the colorful lives of many of the real characters had more than enough fodder for History channel to stick to its roots and actually provide some, er, history with the embellishment.

I’ll admit the series is sometimes brutally entertaining, almost to a fault, and the dialogue is often worth a cringe or a nervous giggle.

I’ll reference the demise of Col. James Fannin (Rob Morrow) who becomes part of the Goliad massacre back in 1836.

The hero is called a “stinkin’ wetback” and chastised by a Mexican officer Lt. Col. Jose Nicolas de la Portilla for illegally existing in his country (oh, the gush of irony) before being summarily shot, point blank, in the head by Col. Portilla.

The digital transfer highlights Mr. Joffe’s and cinematographer Arthur Reinhart’s embracing of the CinemaScope presentation in the Western genre. Wide, sweeping panoramic shots are standard with a muted color palate of tans, browns, beiges and olive hues highlighting the rugged landscapes, but the shots are still crisp enough to appreciate every fine detail on costuming and sets.

Forty minutes of extras are more promotional than informational. They focus on gushing about the scope of the project, shooting in Durango, Mexico, and the crew of hundreds. The extras include a look at the two adversaries — Sam Houston and Santa Anna — by the actors who portrayed them, with just a pinch of experts interviewed.

Now, heaven forbid, the History channel might offer an actual, lengthy documentary on the history of Texas on the Blu-rays. Hey, at some point wasn’t the channel known for educational programming?