Justified: City Primeval Review – A Justified Return

The Man in the Hat is back. Timothy Olyphant reprises the role of Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens quite effortlessly I must say in Justified: City Primeval. He’s looking good for his age, I’m quite jealous. While it is good to see him as he fits the role like a glove, I should consider saying that this is not Justified. This is another short story written by Elmore Leonard called City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit with the tv show name slapped on it. And for me, it shows. Does this mean this isn’t worth your time? Not necessarily. I think it’s flawed but ultimately a good time, although I believe I appreciated it better on second viewing for this review. It’s unsure of itself pacing wise, tonally it’s nothing like Justified but it is still entertaining.

Justified: City Primeval was created for television by Dave Andron and Michael Dinner and is available to watch on Disney Plus as of May 2024, and was released between July 17-23, 2023.

For those who enjoy their westerns, Jacob Gurney has picked out five of his favourite western films since 2000.

Story – A Leopard Can’t Change It’s Spots

Justified: City Primeval has silver fox Raylan Givens still giving it his all as a Deputy US Marshal. Someone should question his sanity. Or maybe look to him as the standard bearer. He tangles with a couple of criminals trying to steal his car along a highway when he is trying to take his wayward daughter to camp to straighten her out. Good luck with that. The men are from Detroit, so he takes them there for arraignment. Upon giving evidence, he crosses paths with a formidable prosecutor in Carolyn Wilder, as well as Judge Alvin Guy. Turns out, Judge Guy, played by Keith David, survived an assassination attempt that very morning and wants Raylan to help track down those responsible. The  judge holds the key to the city, every dirty little secret. Can Raylan keep him alive?

What they don’t count on is the “Oklahoma Wildman”, Clement Mansell. This man is a virus on anything he touches. He has a severely cavalier attitude to life for anyone he knows: his girlfriend Sandy, a barman called Sweety, naturally he has a lawyer, Carolyn Wilder. He seems to kill anyone with impunity, almost indifference. Like he has no soul. Unlike antagonists in Justified, this man is a one-man wrecking machine, of which consequences seem to affect him little. Everyone is scared to do anything about him;  he goes around doing what he likes. The longer the show goes on, the more incredulous I found his character, or specifically why no-one could stop him.

Judge Alvin Guy with his assistant kicks off this series plot.

Too Much Going On?

The show starts a little slow. This is done to build out certain characters. Marcus “Sweety” Sweeton probably gets the best backstory. He was a guitar player of blues music whos’ claim to fame was playing with George Clinton, influencing him make Atomic Dog. It’s a good song to be fair.

Naturally, time is dedicated to Raylan’s daughter Willa. I thought she wasn’t bad. She’s your typical television teenager. My main problem is that they don’t do anything with her. While it’s nice to see Vivian Olyphant, her character is just there, in the way. Things move much quicker after they move her on.

The story does switch between various points but can be a little inconsistent; there is one featuring Albanians which comes back, as if they forgot about it. Carolyn gets good development as well with her relationship at being a lawyer as well as dealing with an ex-husband. She is the obligatory love interest for Raylan and while I liked both characters, didn’t really see it.

While I overall enjoy the story, I think it has a little too much going on. My biggest takeaway as stated is that this is a story created without Raylan in it. And while Timothy is game, there are times I felt you could tell that he has less of a presence in this.  This affects the show, which has backstories about other characters and it is a busy story plot wise with Raylan in it being pulled along.

Clement(middle) asks the crew what to do next

What About Detroit?

I also felt that their pursuit of the main antagonist shouldn’t have taken the length of the series. Still, it’s an enjoyable watch but those who loved the original series will notice the difference, how it has a sense of style that Justified: City Primeval doesn’t have. The beginning of the show, the Detroit Police Department repeatedly tell Raylan “this is how we get shit done.” Which was fine but to be honest, apart from the specific areas they use, I wouldn’t say I “knew” what Detroit, Michigan was like by the end. I just happens to be the setting for the story, which is a shame. 

Raylan being given the Detroit Police Department “Experience.”

Characters & Performances: Solid All Round – But I Have a Problem With Clement

This is going to be tough one, as there are a LOT of characters involved with this show. I will also specifically deal with Clement since he was the main antagonist and thrust of the story.

Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens was as good as ever. Has a performance that ages like a fine wine. He’s silky smooth and but can be threatening when necessary. He can be witty when he wants to be. Still has that irascible charm of his. Certainly on hand with a zinger or two. Considering he’s also not the main character of this original story, they did well but sometimes he’s just there around the cast.

Carolyn Wilder, played by Aunjanue Ellis, was excellent at being the lawyer involved in the centre of the plot. She was quite multidimensional with emotions. Someone you could confide and take comfort in. She played off well with Timothy as well as her ex-husband, Jamal, played by Amin Joseph. I initially thought Jamal was annoying, but he wasn’t bad.

Raylan’s partners at the Detroit Police Department were decent. I liked Victor Williams the most, playing Wendell Robinson. He played him sort of world weary, he was witty and his rapport with Timothy was good. Marin Ireland and Norbert Leo Butz play the rest of the team and were fine. They didn’t have much screen time but were good with what they’ve got.

Clement Mansell’s partners, Marcus “Sweety” Sweeton & Sandy Stanton, played by Vondie Curtis-Hall & Adelaide Clemens were good, particularly Curtis-Hall. They played characters who looked out of their depth with Mansell, scared of what to do next, but Curtis-Hall was giving a bit more breathing room, I liked his backstory and seeing him onscreen.

The hat still fits Raylan just fine.

Willa Givens

Timothy’s daughter Vivian played Raylan’s teenage daughter and upon viewing it again, it thought she was fine. She is playing the awkward teenager – but you can tell she’s a bit older than that. The writing has her being the awkward teenager; they are supposed to be annoying, and her performance was fine. The problem was that they gave her nothing to do. Some proper father/daughter scenarios to offset the story would have been nice. I think they weren’t sure what to do with her and I wasn’t surprised she was cut early on to refocus the story.

There were a whole bunch of other players too, there are actually a few cameos to watch out for, and they’re all solid in their roles.

Raylan spending time with his daughter Willa is initially a big part of the show.

The Oklahoma Wildman

Boyd Holbrook plays the Jusitfied: City Primeval antagonist, Clement “The Oklahoma Wildman” Mansell. This is a reference to his days as part of the Wrecking Crew where he got away with multiple crimes. And I found him very hard to empathise with or eventually, find him an interesting villain. I thought he started well enough. He does what he likes with impunity. Doesn’t care about anyone. Destroys everything he touches. Boyd played him well, did a solid enough job.

However, the longer the show goes on, it just baffled me that he gets away with so much murder & mayhem and the police can’t find any evidence whatsoever. Even when they try to trap him, he skates. They present him as not the sharpest knife in the drawer intellectually. Smarter than your average criminal and possibly good enough to not get caught, but to cause this much chaos and not be apprehended? Hmmm.

Clement weirdly is also friendly most of the time, but he also doesn’t have the unpredictability of say, Robert Quarles from Justified, played by Neal McDonough. And even then, Quarles has a purpose to his violence. Clement is extremely cocky or nonchalant which was mostly his defining character trait. He enjoyed music, thought himself an aspiring singer and he seems to like art. Anything else is a mystery amongst the madness.

I found it more interesting to see how his actions affected everyone around him and maybe that was the point. I didn’t dislike the character and I thought Boyd was good. My main take is that the character could have been so much more interesting, as well as formidable, than what is shown. Robert Quarles or Boyd Crowder, he is not.

Confrontations between the two were good – but far between sadly.

Cinematography & Sound: Very Good

Justified: City Primeval was solidly made. There’s a good selection of indoor and outdoor locations. I enjoyed locations like Carolyn’s house, there was Del’s penthouse. Sweety’s bar was an iconic location. There was plenty of scenarios set during the haze of day as well as the blackness of night and I like both. I liked the contrast of colours. There was also muted blues dotted around, specifically at night, which looked nice. There actually isn’t a lot of action scenes, the main one is probably a chase scene in episode one. They use a crane and a one camera system, and it works fine. They know what they’re doing, it’s professionally done.

I really enjoyed the music. It was quite eclectic in its choices with the use of licence music. Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes will be the most notable track, which has Boyd Holbrook singing at one point, he sounds good. The Chamber Brothers’ The Time Has Come was another one. There is some blues played, and then there was specifically soft jazz played whenever there was scenes Carolyn & Jamal. The actual soundtrack made by Mark Isham was good, usually a techno vibe but I did enjoy the softer side that was usually there.

One of the primary filming locations

Editing & Pacing – Patchy & Passable 

I thought the editing in Justified: City Primeval was perfectly fine. Most of the scenes were good, although I thought that at certain times, especially near the beginning, that I did wonder how characters suddenly turned up in certain places. Was a little weird. There isn’t a lot of action but it was done well. Episodes ranged from 43-52 minutes long. I didn’t think that episodes themselves were long but as stated about character motivations and the number of characters involved, I did think it dragged a bit.