Chief of War, on Apple TV+

King Kamehameha I was the Garibaldi or Charlemagne of Hawaii. He unified the Islands, but he was a King, so apparently, we must remove his statue from Congress’s National Statuary Hall, because “no kings” is the new motto of the righteous, right? Regardless, Keawe-Ka’iana-a-Ahu’ula (commonly referred to as Ka’iana) was a big part of Kamehameha’s campaigns, at least until he wasn’t. Their relationship was complicated, as viewers soon glean from creators Thomas Pa’a Sibbet & Jason Momoa’s nine-episode historical drama Chief of War, which premiere today on Apple TV+.

Like Dom Toretto, “family” is everything to Ka’iana. He once served as the Chief of War for King Kahekili of Maui, but he tired of the ruler’s bloodlust, so he and his family—wife Kupuohi, brother Namaki, sister-in-law Heke, and his loyal dude—Nahi led to Kauai, where they are treated like lowly refugees. At least, they are no longer party to Kahekili’s cruelty, until the King summons them back to Maui.

Reluctantly, Ka’iana once again leads Kahekili’s army, during Maui’s time of need—except the circumstances are not exactly what the King led him to believe. Horrified by their complicity in Kahekili’s atrocities, Ka’iana’s family once again flees Maui. This time, the find shelter in the Kingdom of Hawaii (a.k.a. “The Big Island”), just as a succession battle erupts. Keoua succeeded his father as king, just as he expected. However, the late monarch willed Hawaii’s war god-idol to his nephew, Kamehameha. Essentially, that was like cleaving the Commander-in-Chief duties from the office of the President of the United States. Keoua takes it as a rebuke, which indeed it was.

As the civil war unfolds, Ka’iana’s family aligns with Kamehameha, but it will be an uneasy alliance. However, Ka’iana might not even get that far. While escaping Kahekili’s army, Ka’iana resorts to a death-defying cliff dive, after which an English trading vessel fishes him out of the ocean, on their way to the rough-and-tumble Spanish-Filipino port city of Zamboanga. Ka’iana will get quite an education there, on subjects like guns.

Time will tell how the indigenous Hawaiian community feels about the depiction of famous chiefs like Kahekili and Keoua. For those coming in without any preconceived notions, the series hums along quite briskly as a big, bold, violent historical epic, very much in the tradition of Mel Gibson’s before-scandal films.

Indeed, Chief of War represents an unusually cinematic streaming series. The Hawaiian Island backdrops look stunning and the battle scenes are spectacular. Although Sibbett, Momoa, and cowriter Doug Jung often cast Westerners in villainous roles (especially with respects to the Spanish slave trade), the series itself is much less concerned with the colonialism than the tribal warfare enveloping the islands.

The Dark Horse: Cliff Curtis Becomes Genesis Potini

If you want to know the latest developments in competitive chess or the sorry state of human rights in Russia, Garry Kasparov’s twitter feed is required reading. The witty and erudite Kasparov might be one of the few grandmasters you would actually want to have dinner with. Remember how creepy Bobby Fischer turned out? Genesis Potini struggled with even greater mental and emotional issues, but his heart was always in the right place. Potini finds the best way to stabilize his chemically unbalanced mind is by coaching a chess team of underprivileged youths in James Napier Robertson’s The Dark Horse (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

There is no mistaking the extreme nature of Potini’s bipolar condition. We first meet him in the midst of a full blown episode. It is only the sight of an antique chess set that somewhat calms (or at least slows) down Potini to some extent. The rather generous reception the store offers to the furiously muttering Potini quickly demonstrates Robertson’s restraint. Marginalized even within his ethnic Maori community, Potini’s social and economic realities are crystal clear from the onset. They need no heavy-handed incidents to underscore them.

Reluctantly, Potini’s brother Ariki, a high-ranking member of a biker-gang, takes the troubled former competitive chess player into his home. However, Potini is uncomfortable with the gang’s vice and aggression. He seeks a sense of belonging in a chess club sponsored by a former mate, initially unaware it serves at-risk kids. Yet, when Noble Keelan gives him a chance, Potini shows an aptitude for coaching, particularly when he relates the game to Maori legends. He even starts to reach his standoffish nephew Mana. Unfortunately, Ariki is dead set on initiating Mana into the gang on the very same day Potini’s team, the Eastern Knights, will compete in their first tournament.

You probably think you know where this film is headed and it is true Robertson is fiercely determined to inspire viewers, no matter how cynical they are. Nevertheless, Dark Horse is light years removed from simplistic television movie terrain, nor does Robertson ever opt to take the easy way out. There is no “cure” in sight for Potini, only more effective management techniques.

What really distinguishes Dark Horse is Cliff Curtis’s remarkable portrayal of Potini. Despite his frequent descents into mania, it is not a flashy performance. Curtis pulls us into his hulking frame (for which he reportedly packed on sixty pounds), rather than engaging in cheap tics. Curtis has a background in Mau Rakau martial arts and constantly seems to be jogging as the lead in Fear the Walking Dead, but as Potini, he looks like a walking PSA for diabetes and heart disease. Yet, there is something soulful about his screen-presence, even when he is quietly careening out of control.

Wayne Hapi has a similarly powerful physical bearing, but his work as Akiri might even be more complex and subtly modulated. His parenting choices will strike viewers as tragically wrong, yet we understand exactly why he makes them. The young supporting cast is also loaded with raw, natural talent, but James Rolleston and Niwa Whatuira are standouts for their charisma and intensity, as Mana and Keelan’s promising recruit Michael Manihera.

Robertson never tries to reinvent the wheel during Dark Horse, but he tells Potini’s story with incredible honesty and sensitivity. He also guides his ensemble (of radically differing experience levels) to some highly compelling performances. Recommended for those who appreciate a little inspiration without sentimentality or beautification, The Dark Horse opens this Friday (4/1) in New York, at the Angelika Film Center.

Fear the Walking Dead: the Zombie Prequel

Unlike Deputy Sheriff Rick Grimes, Travis Manawa and his family did not sleep through the zombie uprising, but they still never saw it coming. Like the Spanish Inquisition, nobody expects the zombie apocalypse. LA traffic and attitudes only makes the problem of undead hordes worse in Fear the Walking Dead—the Complete First Season (trailer here), the AMC Walking Dead prequel series now available on DVD and BluRay.

As far as viewers know, Nick Clark is the first person to see zombies and live to tell the tale. Unfortunately, as a heroin junkie who ran into traffic, nobody will give his warnings much credence, not even Clark himself. Frankly, his widowed mother Madison Clark and sister Alicia are rather glad to have him in the hospital, where he can presumably be watched for his own good. However, this is an unusually busy day for emergency services, allowing him to slip out.

Clark and her high school teacher boyfriend Travis Manawa will try to track him down, but the city seems to be crazier than usually. There have been a rash of police shootings in which the bodies are absolutely riddled with bullets. Like a budding Tarantino, Manawa’s son Chris is eager to protest the cops’ presumed excessive force. Naturally he takes to the streets to protest at a rather inopportune time. Manawa and Clark will try to round up their respective kids and ex-wives, in hopes they can ride out the unrest somewhere in the desert, until in a case of classic good news-bad news, the military imposes martial law.

Although the initial episodes are also rather sparing in their depictions of zombies, the first season of Fear is considerably grabbier than year one of the mother franchise. Of course, having Cliff Curtis (of Whale Rider and Once Were Warriors) to anchor the series helps tremendously. While Manawa starts out likeably square and straight-arrow, Curtis believably takes him to some dark places as the first season progresses. He also develops some believable chemistry with Kim Dickens’ Clark. Ruben Blades adds further heft as Daniel Salazar, an El Salvadoran barber who reluctantly offers the Manawas shelter during a riot.

So far, the younger generation is not keeping up its end as well, but poor Frank Dillane is sort of stuck playing annoying junkie behavior as the needs-to-be-killed-off Nick Mason. Alycia Debnam-Carey also shows some promise and poise as Alicia Mason, but Lorenzo James Henrie’s personality-free Chris Manawa could get eaten by zombies and viewers would barely notice. Unfortunately, the always reliable Sandrine Holt’s talents are largely wasted on Dr. Exner, who hardly gets any character development until it is too late, but Colman Domingo (who helped rock Passing Strange) pretty much steals the show when he appears in the late episodes as Nick Clark’s mysterious protector, Victor Strand. He is reason enough to comeback for a second season.

Season one of Fear also ends more decisively than the first season of the original Walking Dead. It reaches an emotional crescendo for the main characters totally in keeping with what fans expect. Needless to say, not everyone will return for season two. Leaving viewers primed for more, Fear the Walking Dead—the Complete First Season is good zombie television (but it still cannot compare to the George Romero movies that so clearly inspired its world). Recommended for zombie fans, it releases today on DVD and BluRay, from Anchor Bay Entertainment.