As
a principled lawman, Wyatt Earp respects a bounty hunter like Hannah Beaumont,
who always brings her fugitives in alive, rather than dead. A scoundrel like Doc Holliday can also
appreciate Beaumont, because she’s a woman.
Before the O.K. Corral, they will all meet up in Dodge for some frontier
justice in Hannah’s Law (promo here), a Hallmark Movie
Channel original feature, premiering this Saturday.
As
a girl, Beaumont witnessed Frank McMurphy’s gang kill her family in cold blood,
unbeknownst to them. She became a bounty
hunter to track down every last man. Refusing
to become a murderer as well, she forces them to face justice. At least that had been the plan. It seems McMurphy has gotten wind of her. Rounding up a new gang of cutthroats,
McMurphy is headed to Dodge and Hell is riding with them.
The
“Earp & Holliday: the early years” concept is reasonably fresh and showing
it from a woman’s perspective is a nice Hallmark-friendly twist. However, Law
is not particularly ambitious by western genre standards, essentially
knocking down the revenge dominos as soon as it sets them up. Beaumont could also use a few humanizing
flaws, besides hooking up with a certain consumptive dentist. Not only does she refrain from killing,
Beaumont always donates her bounties to the local orphanage. Indeed, she is quite modern in her thinking
for the 1870’s. Two of her nearest and
dearest friends are African American: her mentor, Isom Dart, and her BFF,
Stagecoach Annie. She even marks off all
the voluntary donations on her income tax—at least she probably would have, if
there had been one at the time.
Sara
(Vampire Diaries) Canning is
perfectly presentable as Beaumont, but she never really conveys much righteous intensity. While darker days are in store for his
character, Greyston Holt brings a likability and sense of integrity to Earp
that works well enough for television.
Danny Glover also plays off his “too old for this . . .” persona quite
effectively as Dart. However, Kimberly
Elise’s Stagecoach Annie (conveniently, her job is part of her name) is annoyingly
codependent on Beaumont. In contrast,
Ryan Kennedy seems to be having great fun as Holliday, which is exactly how the
part is traditionally played.
While
not redefining the genre, Law
screenwriter-co-executive producer John Fasano has the good sense to end it
with a shootout. Frankly, this is a
convention that never gets old and director Rachel Talay stages it rather
well. While she has an extensive television
resume, Talay’s early directorial credits include Tank Girl and Freddy’s Dead:
the Final Nightmare, two features you are not likely to be thinking of
while watching Law.