Being a massive reader and huge fan of murder mysteries, I have always thought: " Agatha Christie is the best crime writer." Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple have always been my favorite sleuths to be honest (never really cared for Tommy and Tupence)."Towards Zero", which actually does not have Marple as the detective and is a stand-alone mystery book, was a pretty enjoyale read for me ( don't think it's one of the better Agatha Christie books though) and the adaptation of the novel is about on the same level as the book- it's fine.
Let's go through the good aspects first.
. The production values of "Towards Zero" are great as usual. Everything looks good and the music, which creates an unsettling mood, is very haunting.
. The script and the direction have their moments. Sometimes the mystery is very compelling with some clever red herrings and okay character-work.
. The acting is mostly good too with Greg Wise giving the most intriguing performance. Geraldine McEwan, who I do not consider as the best Miss Marple (Julia Mckenzie being the best of the series by a mile), is also enjoyable in her role.
That being said...
. The pacing of "Towards Zero" is quite pedestrian indeed. In the beginning the story did not get as properly going as it should have and in the middle it dragged quite a bit.
.The dialogue was not very witty at times and the direction did not flow as fluently. That being the case with a couple of not very good- shot compositions and quite rough editing.
. Also, am I the only one, who thought: Miss Marple did not have a proper place in the story?
Overall, a decent adaptation.
6/10 HK
Let's go through the good aspects first.
. The production values of "Towards Zero" are great as usual. Everything looks good and the music, which creates an unsettling mood, is very haunting.
. The script and the direction have their moments. Sometimes the mystery is very compelling with some clever red herrings and okay character-work.
. The acting is mostly good too with Greg Wise giving the most intriguing performance. Geraldine McEwan, who I do not consider as the best Miss Marple (Julia Mckenzie being the best of the series by a mile), is also enjoyable in her role.
That being said...
. The pacing of "Towards Zero" is quite pedestrian indeed. In the beginning the story did not get as properly going as it should have and in the middle it dragged quite a bit.
.The dialogue was not very witty at times and the direction did not flow as fluently. That being the case with a couple of not very good- shot compositions and quite rough editing.
. Also, am I the only one, who thought: Miss Marple did not have a proper place in the story?
Overall, a decent adaptation.
6/10 HK