Cowboy Cartel

Directors Dan Johnstone and Castor Fernandez do a terrific job of weaving straw into narrative gold, but when it came to getting the principals to talk, time was on everyone’s side.

An intricate and gripping tale of criminal enterprise machinations, investigative strategies, and immense danger.

There are times when “Cowboy Cartel” gets a bit lost in the weeds of bureaucracy, but directors and executive producers Dan Johnstone and Castor Fernandez do an impressive job of holding our attention. Through the winning formula of relying on restrained dramatic re-creations, archival footage and interviews with key players in the case, “Cowboy Cartel” for the most part holds us in its grip.

Cartel gets a lot of use out of reenactments, with actors in big black Aviators and cowboy boots driving around Texas in a government-issue Impala, or trying to stay incognito as they surveil their persons of interest at horse auctions. And while that stuff is effective in building tension – Lawson and the FBI were targeting a criminal group known for killing indiscriminately, always wary of being made – it’s the case itself that’s the most interesting thing here.

The plot feels ready-made for a TV show, and “Cowboy” sometimes rises to the occasion.

Cowboy Cartel seems to have been put together by people who haven’t noticed the limitations of their narrative. It’s about two-and-a-half episodes’ worth of story, presented as a four-episode series.