The main character Rawlins has 1 more facial expression than Arnold as the terminator. He smiled once, maybe twice. His acting chops are wooden and I think the only reason they chose him is because he has those "squinty" gunfighter eyes that are in vogue for these types of movies. All of the costumes were not "aged" properly, same for the hats. Rawlin's holster was brand new, it looked like it was fresh out of the box, it had no evidence that he had used it before enough to be a "fast draw." It certainly didn't look like he had practiced with it. The rifle shots would have gone straight through the buckboard and hit the men taking cover behind it. And if I ever see another movie where a building blows up while the actors never look back it will be more irritating than the whole of this movie was. I can't see how this movie got good reviews. The acting was horrible.

Then why the rating? Acting was pretty good. Script was a little sparse, but easy to follow. I would have liked some closed captions. I did see the wind turbine in the background. I loved the scenery, though, it made me want to take a trip to where the moon is always full, the women are always beautiful, and the men strong, silent, and just a little bit crazy. I spent the latter part of the movie trying to decide if Stephen Bridgewater was the reincarnation of Alex Karras and marveling over the resemblance of Gail O'Grady and Charlize Theron. Only compliments intended, of course. I think the producers should make a sequel in which the bounty hunter becomes the new sheriff and finds out his half sister is really not his father's child so they can resolve all the pent up sexual tension left over at the end of the original movie.

First off, I love Kevin Sorbo. I love westerns. And I really liked his previous western, which I believe was also on the Hallmark channel. This movie had several problems that kept me from enjoying it: 1) The music and dialogue tracks were very poorly balanced. The music was overpowering and the dialogue was a little hard to hear many times.2) The music in general was very generic, and the background music seemed to be almost the same, scene after scene. And what's worse is the music NEVER stops for more than a few seconds at a time. LITERALLY. It's in your face the whole movie, and I found it cloying and grating on my nerves.3) Kevin Sorbo has a secondary role in this, and isn't in it nearly as much as I expected.4) The main character carried the quiet, mysterious stranger type a little far, and it seemed pretty cheesy to me.And just overall the movie didn't flow very well. It just kind of seemed like a bunch of scenes cobbled together. It never really pulled me in. I hope he does another western more similar to his previous one, but this one I could've done without.

I've always loved westerns,and Shadow on The Mesa took me back to the westerns I grew up watching. The premise has Ray Eastman(Kevin Sorbo)fighting to keep his land out of the hands of wealthy rancher Peter Dowdy. In the midst of the war,he finds out about a son he never knew he had. That son,Wes Rawlins,comes to him to find out what he knows about the murder of his mother,Mary. They soon discover that her murder is tied to Dowdy's attempts to take Ray's land. It all ends in a old fashioned shoot-em up,much like the westerns of old. Sorbo gives a gut-wrenching performance as Eastman,who is waging a battle to keep his land for his children. The emotions he shows when he discovers that Wes is his son are very powerful. If you love westerns like I do,then you must watch this one!