GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

me43 I recently watched "Skinwalkers" again and enjoyed it more than I did the first time around. As I wrote in my Coyote Waits review, etc., I dislike that moviemakers think Native tribes are interchangeable. I am not only talking about the mispronouncing of words or the expression of cultural ideas, but something more apparent at first glance... somatotypes. Major tribes have different body types, facial structure, ways of speaking, dressing, walking, and even hair styles. They can be as different from each other as they are to non indigenous races. For example: Comanche tend to be tall, muscular and golden skinned. Navajo necks tend to look shorter with the head seemingly very close to the shoulders, in both genders. Sioux have killer cheekbones, while Apache faces are broader, and their legs are shorter; Mohawk noses tend to be "hawkish" and they "look indian" even if the person is a mixed blood with blonde hair and blue eyes! I could go on and on, but you get the point. I also find it amusing that Adam Beach's character pointed out Apache somatotypes in "Smoke Signals", so the actor cannot possibly be unaware. You will see more Navajo in Skinwalkers than I recall seeing in Coyote Waits, and I bet you will soon start recognizing who in the film is a real Navajo and who is not... giving you an appreciation of what some of us keep complaining about. I thought Adam Beach was better in this film and I thought the plot was better. They still didn't film in the right locations as the Navajo are Mesa people, but the scenery is beautiful just the same. Michael Greyeyes can do an insane smile better than anyone since Martin Landau. Even if you haven't seen the other films in the series, you can enjoy this film as it doesn't pull in important references from the others. It has problems, sure, but I enjoyed the ride.

B24 I just caught this on PBS for the first time and immediately noticed all the errors and shortcomings I had planned to document before seeing they had been mentioned by viewers already. Morris Bitsie in particular has commented accurately, as have all the people who vastly preferred the book(s).It just begs the question to have the benefit of Tony Hillerman's own acknowledgement in the afterword that the process of making a movie is very different from that of writing a novel. But to see the movie set on the low desert instead of the high plateau of the Navajo nation is almost as sacrilegious as giving short shrift to the actual language, religion, and culture of the Dine themselves.As a former student at Northern Arizona University with many friends on the nation, I was dismayed to see Hillerman's sensitive and intricate plot and characters chopped up, re-sorted, and spat out as yet another Hollywood style detective yarn. Only the mere fact that all the main characters were at least Native Americans saved it, though the usual all-Indians-look-alike-so-why-bother-to-get-real-Navajos aspect is so obvious as to be ludicrous.Because I want to see better versions of Hillerman in the future, and I think Adam Beach has an appealing start toward a real Jim Chee, I rated this about four points too high at a 7 of 10. Next time I want to see real Navajos, however.

mwscott The only really good thing I can say about this movie is that it inspired me to re-read the book. The book had some scenes that would have made wonderful cinema such as the interogation of a murder suspect who gleefully confesses to the committing the crime but claims to have used a rifle instead of a knife, the surprise reception for Chee at his first session as a healer, the discovery of the true identity of the shotgun artist, Leaphorn's rescue of Chee that unintentionally delivers him into the hands of the real murderer, and the ironic circumstances that rescue Chee for the second time. What was the reason for discarding these potentialy terrific moments and replacing them with a script that was almost on the same level as the type of Hollywood TV detective series that gets justifiably canceled in its first season?Some other elements from the book that were missing or barely noticeable in the movie include the thrill of Chee being able to prove himself to the legendary Leaphorn, the intricate convergence of both detectives towards the same suspect from different evidence, Leaphorn's map, the evidence of how some Navajo endure the hassle of nearly impassable roads in order to live in locations of isolation and visual splendor, and of course the original method used by the murderer to commit his crimes.Perhaps someday America will produce a mystery series on par with the best that England has to offer. Tony Hillerman's novel are certainly the proper raw material for such an endeavour, but to me this movie is a major irritant as I can not help seeing how it squanders the opportunity to have created something truly excellent.

hsinatra Tony Hillerman is one of my favorite authors. He can weave a tale that really grabs me. To finally see one of his stories come to life on the screen is a great pleasure to me. I suggest that if you haven't read any of Hillerman's works, that you go out and get some.