Reviews

I went in hoping for a fun 2 hours, but no.

Terrible direction, confusing dialogue, script chaotic, editting poor, production actually 3rd rate, repetitious.

I almost walked out. Wish I had.

I had hopes this would be fun, but the whole setup is very confusing, undirected plot, and direction is abysmal; none at all it seems.

No real humour, and the characters are all totally flat, not an interesting or sympathetic one in the bunch. I could not empathise with a single character. All cardboard cutouts ugh.

Lots of chaotic "action" proving nothing, going nowhere, informing nothing. Ugh

What a disappointment in every way.

The first 1/3 of the film was interesting, the second 2/3 was boring, insanely repetitious, chaotic and dull. I almost walked out; I should have.

The problem is not with Dev himself, or with the general production, but with the writers. They simply ran out of ideas after "the action" began, and had no direction or coherent plot.

Action in and of itself is dull, and when you repeat some of the imagery from his childhood AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN, you just fall asleep.

I almost walked out about 2/3 of the way in; I wish I had. Ugh.

Only rates 5/10 (7/10 first third, 2/10 final two thirds) Double ugh.

Wow, very weird movie, like it has been written by two completely different teams of writers.

The first half is the typical, silly DC crap, with some good action along with idiot characters yapping away (maybe as in reality?) with a silly plot and cockeyed sci-fi trashing of the laws of physics... I almost got up and left the cinema.

(If you move into the future or past, the earth moves away from you going around the sun, and the earth is spinning as well, and the solar system is moving around the spinning galaxy, etc etc, so travelling into the past or future while remaining in the "same place" on the earth is mind-bogglingly complex motion.

To see this, a youTube search for the video "How Fast Are WE Moving Right Now?" (2 mins 27 seconds) explains it brilliantly.

So about half way through all this DC silliness and idiotic plot construction, there is a change in the movie (no spoilers), but suddenly it's a different plot and movie entirely.

It becomes an elegy on loss, the past and who we were back then, and how we can "never go home" (philosophy-wise), and trying to go home only messes up your life and the lives of others you love.

I cried 3 times holy crap! I never cry in 99.9% of movies.

I blame Michael Keaton, one of the two BOAT Batmans. As in the first Batman with him, he brings a bit of human insanity, and gravitas and poignancy to the movie. He makes you actually feel the loss and hope and fear and confusion, and his dialogue brings this home to us. Wow.

Michael Keaton, and the actress that plays the Krypton super-girl (Sasha Calle ... Kara Zor-El / Supergirl), and dorky Ezra Miller as The Flash/Barry/Teen Barry become different characters in a different movie. They present a superb, deep dive into things lost forever in the past. WOW.

In my own words:

The past is gone, and tomorrow is an illusion.

There is only Now.

Not bad, but could have been so much better. Plot holes, character betrayals, too often weak dialogue, etc. This was very hard to continue watching through the season.

It all comes down to lazy writing. Hollywood Writer's Guild, ugh. Hollywood has such amazing technical production values, and often good acting and direction. But here, as usual, the writers got lazy.

Some of the potential here was realised, but it doesn't take much to sigh in disappointment, when an extra 10 mins of thought by the writers would have solved the problems and made this an 8 or 8.5 out of ten.

I assume the second season will be even weaker, sadly. It's common for episode 2 to be much better than episode 1, but season 2 is almost always weaker in every way than a season one.

Ah, well.

I really wanted to like this, but the direction was lacklustre. When you have a very complicated plot, then editing, pacing and direction are critical. This is not nearly as much fun as the first Knives Out, and the dialogue is strained. The players try very hard, but it's all a jumble of dialogue and information with no time to enjoy the puzzle. It might be better second time around, so I will watch on tv in a couple of months.

In particular, Daniel Craig's southern gentleman detective is far too noisy, bumbling, and silly. Most of the other characters are almost clichés. The whole movie looks rushed into production, a desperate attempt to make up for losses during COVID.

Too bad. Perhaps a "directors cut" might be better.

Removed from circulation due to Brazil Olympics controversy.

A former Olympian now working in the Belgian consulate is killed. Her death is soon linked to an aspiring Olympian, a blackmail DVD, and the owner of a private security firm.

Jeff Goldblum Julianne Nicholson Eric Bogosian Ritchie Coster Jess Weixler Pedro Pascal Leslie Hendrix

A former Olympian now working in the Belgian consulate is killed. Her death is soon linked to an aspiring Olympian, a blackmail DVD, and the owner of a private security firm.

A former Olympian now working in the Belgian consulate is killed. Her death is soon linked to an aspiring Olympian, a blackmail DVD, and the owner of a private security firm.

If this were an episode of a sci-fi show, it would be not bad. But filling in 2 full hours of NOTHING to stretch it out is insulting.

Dull, boring, repetitive.

I walked out.

I have struggled to continue with this series. Much of it is good, but it takes the easy way out into cliché far too often.

And you can see where the producers are stretching the story to fill air time. Too bad most production companies are paid by the hour or the episode; it's a terrible temptation to be lazy in writing and direction. Especially episode 7 is full of dead air, slow, repetitive, with the occasional good bit. I found myself jumping ahead 10 seconds, over and over, and not missing a damn thing.

Mostly the acting is acceptable, sometimes quite good. Pratt is definitely a B-actor, but with good direction, he's acceptable. Too often, he's been let down by directors keeping costs down and extending air time.

You know what I'm talking about here; it's all there on the screen. Overall, barely better than 6 out of 10; so it gets a 7.0, no more.

What's broken here?

DIALOGUE!

In this travesty, it's utterly cringeworthy!

I kept thinking "OMG, Americans are so stupid, childish, clichéd, incompetent, cruel, selfish, and emotionally stunted..." The educational system has clearly been wiped out by the GOP, and even grown citizens can no longer spell or think, much less people under 30.

Avoid this mess of a movie at all costs.

Note: I grew up in uber-racist Memphis in the 1950s, moved to New England in the late 60s, and then to London in 1985.

There are ten episodes here, with small overlap between the first and second story.

The first season (story 1, five episodes) was excellent, great mystery, fine acting and direction, good pacing and dialogue.

The first season (story 2, five episodes) was pretty good, but with some pacing problems, some clichés, and the facepalm or two. Again, the acting is fine, dialogue okay.

I will be watching and adding reviews of Seasons 2 & 3 here eventually.

This series suffers from make-it-longer syndrome, so for example episode 4 is quite dull, and several other episodes slow down to a crawl. The additional plot for Micky Haller's ex-wife is clearly added on to get a couple more episodes of funding.

This would have been much much better at 6 or 7 episodes, and diverged from the book significantly.

A disappointment, but watchable, especially if you skip the ex-wife thread.

A superb re-telling of the battle a group of true American heroes.

Terrific production, direction and acting.

Never forget that JUST AFTER TRUMP lost the election in 2020, out of monstrous spite he released thousands of murderous Taliban soldiers from prison, just to screw America and Biden. They are busy taking Afghans back to the Stone Age right now.

Terrible direction, dull instead of dry, slow instead of studied, wooden instead of solid, very little acting at all, crappy music.

Joe Cole looks and acts (hah!) like a junior school version of Michael Caine. There is zero chemisty with Lucy Boynton. Tom Hollander is credible, but struggles with the terrible script which has very, very little to do with the masterpiece that Deighton wrote.

The director, James Watson, has little experience with anything like this, and clearly could not take the time to study other spy genre greats.

What a shame.

Depressing from the first minutes, watching the gangsters drive fear and hatred for profit, just like Milosovic and Trump and countless others.

Unlike Boorman's masterpiece, Hope and Glory, there's no glorious heart here, and no hope except in running away (the correct choice)

Acting, directing and camera are good. The b/w choice does little to enhance the importance of what's going to happen to these sad victims over the next 40+ years.

Not a triumph, just a kick in the teeth.

What a mistake, a lunge for your pockets. The script is confused, inconsistent, and dull. Dialogue is often muddy, and almost always silly and clichéd. The direction is lacklustre, and most of the acting is phoned in. Production values are good, but not excellent.

As time goes by, my memory of it gets worse.

Maybe watch this on the small screen, or better, just skip it.

Just finished this series. Wow. * Ten stars *

One of the best series I've ever seen on tv.

Superb script, acting, direction, editing, pacing, locations, characters, and just the right amount of short action sequences throughout.

And the original music score was one of the best I've heard.

Fabulous in every way!

Wonderful. Must see.

Cringingly bad, omg. The young Llobell is in NO way capable of performing this pathos, even with the best possible director, which Alex Graves is NOT.

The action scenes were laughably bad, the stupidity of the Imperial captain ridiculous, the naked stupidity of "The Sleeper" religion, insulting.

The first four episodes were passable, but this was truly awful.

This is one of the worst movies I have seen in a long time. The script is terribly confused, complicated and very poorly presented by the director and cast.

The editing does not help clarify the plot or action, and in fact, makes it worse. The pacing is uneven, swerving from sleep-inducing to WTF.

Whoever told Rebecca Ferguson she could sing should be in prison. I almost stood up during her first number and shouted at the projectionist to MAKE IT STOP. Absolutely awful, painful even.

Each time you think the movie is, god help us, drawing to a conclusion, new outrageous plot twists pop up.

The huge budget on making Miami look flooded has no bearing whatsoever on the plot or action.

Train Wreck. Those are the words. Two stars for some nice special effects.

Music from Ipcress File at end minus ten minutes?

What do you think?

Truly wonderful filmmaking. Brilliant writing, heartfelt, lovely acting and direction, almost conjured from a different TV series.

The leads are charming, especially Kelly, who was quite good in Bladerunner 2049.

The plot begins as a mystery, a bit of genius, and slowly you realised structure of the sci-fi. The hearts and romance are young and vibrant, just as hearts everywhere in the world, regardless of age.

Of all the Black Mirror, this is THE ONE.

No Season 2, leaves this one hanging in space.

It started well, then just peters out in the last episode. No resolution.

The original movie with Ray MacAnally was fabulous. This is a shame.

A FLAWLESS terrific noir, dark and shiny, with a hard-as-nails cop on his rounds one night. Very reminiscent of French New Wave style of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The characters are well-defined and true to life. Both cops and mobsters have depth, with terrific casting and acting, and some moments of spontaneous humour.

A gem, must see.

Start mediocre, then disintegrates int crap by episode 6

Episodes 7 and 8 are truly awful in every way.

What an extraordinary film, what a surprise. Casey Affleck is incredible, a joy, a masterwork.

Must see!

It's really stupid. And to use pretty good talent this way is a sin.

The Hollywood Writers' Guild is a force for crap on tv/film