Rating: 
Summary: Great Hillerman Movie
Review: I recently saw Skinwalkers on PBS and thought it was an excellent movie to celebrate the new American MYSTERY! Wes Studi as Joe Leaphorn and Adam Beach as Jim Chee were excellent. The scenery was breathtaking as well. I really enjoyed learning more about the Native American culture. Robert Redford and his son deserve a lot of credit for producing this film. I hope we see more Hillerman movies in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Deeply Disappointed - I won't buy the DVD
Review: I saw this on PBS and wouldn't buy the DVD.
If I wans't such a fan of Tony Hillerman's series, I might have tolerated this better. I don't mind so much that the story line of the movie had very little in common with the book, I was mostly disappointed in not recognizing the main characters. They seem to have very little in common with the characters crafted by Mr. Hillerman, although the Jim Chee is much much closer than Joe Leaphorn. One example of this re-invention of Leaphorn is the case of the missing map. Leaphorn, in this movie, is brand new to the reservation, so the map that is in the books, with all it's rich history of information, and a focus for Leaphorn's concentration, can't exist in the movie. I liked the actors they chose to portray Chee and Leaphorn, but they weren't the characters I have come to know in the books.If you have never read Hillerman's books, you may like the movie. I will probably watch the next incarnation on PBS - but I'm not expecting much.
Rating: 
Summary: Skinwalkers
Review: I saw this version of Skinwalkers on PBS a while ago. It was a great mystery that captured suspense along with a lot of excitement the show was on very late at night and kept my attention. I'm seriously considering buying this DVD so I can have a copy of this excellent novel.
Rating:
Summary: Skinwalkers
Review: I was really looking forward to PBS - Mystery! bringing Tony Hillerman to life. And this SO does not do it. The previous Lou Diamond Philips - Fred Ward treatment, _Dark Wind_ is such an improvement. First off, the film characters are more true the book characters. Second, the film plot resembles the book. And finally, in the close captioning on Dark Wind, it tries hard to render the Dine' into English. In this version, it's "Speaking Navajo." (Eyes rolling upward.) I wasted my time with this one and with _Coyote Waits_, and won't bother again.
Rating:
Summary: What a waste!!!!
Review: I was really looking forward to PBS - Mystery! bringing Tony Hillerman to life. And this SO does not do it. The previous Lou Diamond Philips - Fred Ward treatment, _Dark Wind_ is such an improvement. First off, the film characters are more true the book characters. Second, the film plot resembles the book. And finally, in the close captioning on Dark Wind, it tries hard to render the Dine' into English. In this version, it's "Speaking Navajo." (Eyes rolling upward.) I wasted my time with this one and with _Coyote Waits_, and won't bother again.
Rating: 
Summary: Ultimately a Letdown
Review: I watched this adaptation of Tony Hillerman's "Skinwalkers" on PBS and must admit that I went into it with high expectations. Being a long-time Hillerman fan I looked forward to seeing his characters, in one of his best novels, come to life. Unfortunately, what I saw on the screen bore only a passing resemblance to the novel. Now, I realize that this will brand me as a "purist", but I feel if one is going to "adapt" a novel one should stick fairly close to the original storyline, abridging where necessary, and not changing the entire tenor of the plot as has happened here. One good example of how this can be done is the film adaptation of "L.A. Confidential" that came out a few years ago. The central storyline remained intact and the characters remained essentially faithful to their literary counterparts. The latter film also points up the fact that viewers are quite capable of following a complicated plotline. On its own merits, "Skinwalkers" is ok as a mystery. Even a flawed movie about the Dine' (Navajo) is better than none, and "Skinwalkers" does bring a rich Native American culture to greater public awareness. That being said, the film is ultimately disapointing on a number of levels, due mainly to changes in both plot and characterizations that were, IMHO, unneccesary. Leave out Joe Leaphorn's map? May as well have Hercule Poirot shave off his mustache.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic mystery tale
Review: If you want to see dramatic films about American Indians, you're in a lot of trouble. I'm obviously not talking about the old black and white western movies where a bunch of Indians sweep down on a log fort manned by soldiers, or launch an assault on a wagon train in order to scalp a bunch of settlers. I'm not talking about movies where one or two scenes with Indians fits into the larger picture. I'm not even talking about documentaries about Indians. What I'm talking about are fictional films centering solely on Indian characters, films with a mostly Indian cast, and films made by Indians. This is where Chris Eyre comes in. The director of the powerful "Skins" turns in another bravura effort with "Skinwalkers," an adaptation of a Tony Hillerman novel of the same name. While I haven't read the book and thus cannot comment on whether Eyre's movie is faithful to the printed page, I can say the movie is a phenomenally entertaining murder mystery story. In fact, Eyre made the film for PBS's "Mystery" program. According to an extra on the DVD, Robert Redford helped finance the film and served as a sort of hands off executive producer.
There's a big problem on the Navajo reservation. Someone, or something, killed one of the more prominent shamans out on a road in the middle of nowhere. Investigating the crime are two cops, Joe Leaphorn (Wes Studi) and Jim Chee (Adam Beach). The two men couldn't be more different in style and substance. Leaphorn lived off the reservation for years, working as a cop in the big city until his wife Emma (Sheila Tousey) insisted they return to the reservation. His years away have instilled in the man a deep-seated ignorance of Indian life and a suspicion for anything that he cannot prove with solid evidence. Chee, on the other hand, is not only an up and coming cop on the tribal police force with an eye on moving into the top job, he's also studying to become a shaman. It is Chee who indicates that the cryptic evidence left at the crime scene hints at an ancient evil called a skinwalker, or a demonic force (for lack of a better term) that assumes the shape of others to carry out nefarious deeds. Leaphorn scoffs at such nonsense, preferring instead to focus the investigation on tracking down potential human enemies of the murder victim.
The mystery behind the killing assumes even greater dimensions when Chee and several other shamans become targets. Someone goes to the extreme step of blasting Chee's house with a shotgun in an effort to kill the cop. The investigation of the crime widens as Leaphorn and Chee learn that an environmental disaster some years ago might shed some light on events unfolding now. A subplot involving the return of Emma Leaphorn's illness, as well as one about a budding relationship between Chee and prosecutor Janet Pete (Alex Rice) move to center stage from time to time. Too, the smart as a whip physician at the tribal hospital, Doctor Stone (Michael Greyeyes) eventually plays a prominent role in the proceedings. I could give you more by stringing these disparate threads together, but I don't want to ruin the film for you. "Skinwalkers" is an incredible murder mystery film that fully engages the viewer from the opening scene and never lets up. There are so many potential suspects in the story that I almost thought I was watching an Italian giallo without the black gloves and gore.
I saw the film as an effort to show how two competing cultures can compliment one another during a crisis. Chee is obviously the Indian with the knowledge and background necessary to handle the spiritual side of the case. Leaphorn's hardheaded realism and his ability to look at things in a purely analytical sense help clear hurdles as well. Eyre, at least in the two films of his I have seen, seems to be a guy who refuses to place political correctness at the center of his work. He did refer to a few festering points of contention with whites in "Skins," but these issues never consumed a film he made to showcase people on reservations as human beings with both good and bad personality traits. He does the same thing in "Skinwalkers," preferring to focus on making an entertaining whodunit without harping on controversial issues. On the other hand, Eyre does take a jab at Studi's character when we see him sitting in his house on the reservation looking up information about skinwalkers on the Internet instead of walking outside to tap the vast knowledge of his people, but by the end of the film Leaphorn learns that the people here know helpful things that could assist him. By the way, I take issue with people who criticize this film by pointing out that the actors butchered the Navajo language, the setting was all wrong for the reservation, and other nitpicky points. C'mon people! It's a movie! The next time I see a film about World War II, easily identifiable Germans who speak the language fluently better play all of the German roles. Sheesh.
Eyre's picture is a massively entertaining film that will delight fans of the mystery genre. A comprehensive making of featurette included as an extra runs through all the paces. Oddly enough, we learn that James Redford, Bobby's son, wrote the screenplay. An obvious case of nepotism to be sure. You would think they tried to get Tony Hillerman to write the adaptation (unless the author passed away or something). I would definitely watch "Skinwalkers" again, and probably will if I get the chance. I can't wait to check out "Smoke Signals" in the next few days. I want to see if Chris Eyre can go three for three.
Rating:
Summary: The Essence Of The Book
Review: Last night on PBS, Americans were able to view the first of the "American" mysteries in PBS's long-running Mystery series AND were finally treated to a Tony Hillerman novel done as a movie in accessible and successful form. [Dark Wind was made into a major motion picture and only released on video. Despite the miscastings, I think it is worth tracking down a copy.] Skinwalkers finds Lt. Joe Leaphorn, city indian and rationalist, working with Officer Jim Chee, traditionalist and wannabe medicine man, trying to solve a series of killings involving medicine men on the Navajo Reservation. The link between the murders appears to be an old paint factory and some decades old cases of lead poisoning. Joe's wife Emma's cancer has returned and Jim meets city indian public defender Janet Pete. As with any Hillerman story, the landscape is a major character and the human characters play out the inner and outer conflicts of what it means to be an indian. The casting is Native American where it should be [albeit not necessarily Navajo]. One of the more glaring errors involves Lt. Leaphorn's office wall map, which is missing in action from the movie. [My Mother called me right after the airing and that is the first thing that we mentioned to each other!] My big complaint concerns the setting. It appears the film was shot around Superior, Arizona, an area far to the south of the rez and the red rock country of the Colorado Plateau. For people who have not read any Hilllerman, this may not be a problem, but for people who have read the novels, this will probably be worse than any of the changes that were made to the story when it was converted into a screenplay. All in all, Skinwalkers kept the essence of the original novel and shows that you can successfully film a Tony Hilerman novel.
Rating:
Summary: A movie the whole family can watch!
Review: Skinwalkers is definitely not a movie for everyone. There is no swearing, no steamy sex scenes, no perversions, no drugs and people actually show respect to each other. Even the few scenes of killings etc. are mild compared to what we see today in many films. I enjoy Tony Hillerman books not because of the great plots but because of the lessons taught about the lives and beliefs of the Navajo people. The scenery is beautiful, the people are interesting and its a step "outside" our own personal boxes. This is a great movie and one for the family to watch together.
Rating:
Summary: A movie the whole family can watch!
Review: Skinwalkers is definitely not a movie for everyone. There is no swearing, no steamy sex scenes, no perversions, no drugs and people actually show respect to each other. Even the few scenes of killings etc. are mild compared to what we see today in many films. I enjoy Tony Hillerman books not because of the great plots but because of the lessons taught about the lives and beliefs of the Navajo people. The scenery is beautiful, the people are interesting and its a step "outside" our own personal boxes. This is a great movie and one for the family to watch together.
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