“If we don’t get it right, we don't get to come home,” Jason Momoa says of bringing Hawaiian history to life in his new show, Chief of War. He continues, “It has to be on point. There’s no doubt about it.”

Nearly everything written about “Chief of War” — the new series set in 18th-century Hawaii for which the Honolulu-born Jason Momoa was a creator, writer, director and star — has referred to the show as a passion project. And for about four minutes, at the show’s beginning, it feels like one.

In the excellent "Chief of War," Jason Momoa leads a sparkling cast in a gorgeous setting: Hawaii at the turn of the 19th century.