THE SPOILER IS: IT'S NOT A GRRRREAT SERIES!
I think i've written maybe 1 review in all my years using IMDb, so the fact that i'm writing this negative review now says a lot (to me anyway).
My parents recommended this to me saying it was 'fantastic', a 'must watch series', and that Tom Hiddleston should be the next Bond. I had a few doubts about their TV recommendation, but it sounded interesting and the cast looked great, so I gave it a go.
I started watching, and not long in to the first episode i realised that it just wasn't very good! Like someone else said in a previous review: the moment when the good guy stumbles across the bad guy's invoice from the arms company which has NAPALM and NERVE GAS written on it is the ultimate face-palm moment. But i'd started so i'd have to finish, and give the series a chance and watch all 6 episodes (sigh).
In a nutshell - over-hyped, poorly scripted, poorly directed, but occasionally has its moments.
I've given it a 4/10 simply because it has a few great actors in it who do a pretty good job, and this series does have it's occasional moments. Also, it's slightly better than most of the other complete garbage that's puked on to our TV's each night.
I think i've written maybe 1 review in all my years using IMDb, so the fact that i'm writing this negative review now says a lot (to me anyway).
My parents recommended this to me saying it was 'fantastic', a 'must watch series', and that Tom Hiddleston should be the next Bond. I had a few doubts about their TV recommendation, but it sounded interesting and the cast looked great, so I gave it a go.
I started watching, and not long in to the first episode i realised that it just wasn't very good! Like someone else said in a previous review: the moment when the good guy stumbles across the bad guy's invoice from the arms company which has NAPALM and NERVE GAS written on it is the ultimate face-palm moment. But i'd started so i'd have to finish, and give the series a chance and watch all 6 episodes (sigh).
In a nutshell - over-hyped, poorly scripted, poorly directed, but occasionally has its moments.
- Hugh Laurie is a superb actor, and plays a good villain in this series. But his character and his performance are not amazing, he's been let down by the poor script and directing.
- Olivia Coleman's performance in general was very good, but I found her bumbly northerner character a bit out of place.
- Tom Hollander as the frightening Corky was great in my opinion, and a thoroughly believable performance. He steals every scene he's in.
- Tom Hiddleston is okay, but does not come off as a convincing spy character throughout, and his nervous and worried expressions are cheesy. He has zero chemistry with any of the female characters. Like Hugh Laurie I think he's been let down by the script and directing. Based on The Night Manager, I don't think he would make a very good James Bond.
- every time David Harewood was on screen as the American Joel Steadman, the only thing i could think about was how terrible his American accent is, and i didn't pay attention to anything the characters were saying or what was going on (it didn't really matter anyway). Given the obviously big budget, why couldn't they just use a real American actor?! Some of the other accents throughout the series are also quite bad, from the Middle Eastern characters to the super-clichéd posh English mercenaries in the Haven army camp etc.
- Elizabeth Debicki's acting was terrible playing the role of 'Jed'. I haven't seen her in anything else, so I don't know if she's as bad in other roles too. Again, her complete lack of chemistry with any of the main characters was annoying, and her character was really pointless to anything that was going on in the story.
- the plot was predictable, and the characters were mundane clichés.
I've given it a 4/10 simply because it has a few great actors in it who do a pretty good job, and this series does have it's occasional moments. Also, it's slightly better than most of the other complete garbage that's puked on to our TV's each night.