Klaus Engelhardt

I didn't find the series all that bad as some previous reviewers indicate. In my view the intermittent showing of details about the real case were ill-placed. If you make a series about true events you show the plot as seen by the protagonists and in the fourth episode show the trial whether acted out or by actual reporting. I would give it a four-star rating based on Olivia Coleman's and David Thewlis's superb acting. They made their concocted explanation really believable which then appears was all out of their fantasy world in which they lived. Besides that the series fell a bit short. What did not come out clearly was the real psychological motive for the killings. The apparent financial gain and criminal energy with which it was pursued was all too obvious. Was it the alleged sexual abuse which finally broke the last straw? And was the taking all their money and subsequent financial gain because Susan thought it was rightfully owed her in the first place?

The first three episodes looked promising with the expectation for better yet to come. Then it became repetitive with all that family nonsense. Tag, the husband, was seen drinking hard and smoking some sort of cigarette (was is weed?) throughout. Amelia (Eve Hewson) as the bride of Benji, the middle son, was downright boring. Her lines were limited to ,Sorry, Thank you:' and otherwise looking ill at ease among all those nouveau riche people. What's that Indian guy doing here anyway? The plot basically is downright ludicrous. Isabelle Adjani switches from American English to French. She would be the first French woman who could speak English without an accent. The killer chose the night before the wedding for the murder. Only the dumbest people would do this, right? Nicole Kidman is a good fit for the haughty writer and boss of the family. Her impeccably sculpted face is unbelievable. How many treatments did it take to look like this at age 57? It was some entertainment if you had nothing better to do or watch. The ending with Greer's revelation after we finally found out who the killer is seems like they ran out of some dramatic stuff for the last 30 minutes or so. The producers must believe the audience is plain dumb to fall for this kind of story. The quality of Netflix series is definitely deteriorating.

I think all those 1- and 2-star reviewers didn't understand the movie at all. Although it is made as a bank heist at the beginning it quickly delves into the state of mind and the emotions of the two lead characters. What it actually portrays is the breaking out from the daily drudgery of working at a bank with nothing to show for when they are old. It is the pursuit of a dream that many of us go through, which often leads to a mid-life crisis where men just up and leave, escaping a life that doesn't hold any attraction for them any more. Likewise, these two characters find out that what they encounter during their journey is worth more than their daily lives, even at the sacrifice of three and a half years in prison. It might be a bit too long, panning the landscape repeatedly for a minute, and the music score did not fit this movie at all. It was rather disturbing. Still for movie buffs a picture worth watching.

This could have been an excellent series but.... I believe most actors were miscast. Flynn seems a bit too old for this kind of life. Remember the John Paul Getty story. He was the kind of moneyed kid living the wild life in Italy. Somehow Flynn doesn't really fit into this. Equally, Scott may be a good actor but his mimicry was really wooden, no real emotions came through. In comparison Matt Damon's talented Mr. Ripley was a feast to watch. And even Dakota Fanning seemed too stiff, without emotions. Eliot Sumners casting as Freddy is probably owed to the current wokeness. Transpeople and other minorities need to have a role in any movie or tv series these days to make it contemporary. I read that Ripley was portrayed as someone who didn't care about sex but used to it with anybody get what he wanted. In this series it is only hinted at that he might be gay. It is said this series came closest to the book. I wouldn't know as I haven't read it. What makes this series stand out though is its cinematography. Landscapes, the Italian architecture, the ambience conveyed give you the feeling as if you were there. Excellent. I also liked the way the inspector tackles this case, seemingly with Italian ineptitude, to find out at the end all his conjectures and interpretations were wrong.

I mean it's good entertainment for a while but after one hour it gets boring because it's a repeat of all the shoot-em-up movies we have seen before. It's well made but utterly ridiculous. A hundred police cruisers, helicopters, state-of-the-art electronic technology and an Afghanistan veteran can shake them all off? Yeah, entertainment for the less reality-minded viewer. Not worth the time. I skipped about 50% of the movie fast forwarding. Don't waste your time.

I watched this series because I had been approached by Mormon missionaries when I was a teenager. At the time this evolved into a general discussion of religion and Christianity, and then in particular, of course, of the LDS church, its history, beliefs, the book of Mormon, etc. At that time I had a very keen interest in Christianity, having been baptized and confirmed a Lutheran Protestant. I was trying to find out what religion is all about and what the substance of it was. All this led me to renounce any belief in religion altogether, becoming an avowed atheist. Religion is a man-made doctrine created in their search for answers for life and our existence in this world. This series confirmed all this to me again, man (the term is used in its traditional usage here) creates doctrines for any suitable purpose to them. This also holds true for politics, as we can see in the latest world developments. The series is full of lengthy discussions of the LDS teachings, their origin, whether they must be adhered to and abided by even if they are against the law. The Lafferty brothers go at this ad nauseum; the uninitiated would certainly lose interest after the third episode. Unfortunately, this is one of the very weak points of the series. They could have dealt with that in one or two episode and rather focused on the double murder case which resulted from those aberrant beliefs. I would think this series is more for the members of the LDS church than the general public, After all, there are still quite a few of those LDS fundamentalists out there, scattered over several states, Mexico and Canada. A better series about Mormons had been the HBO series Big Love showing the spiritual conflict of some members just as clearly without lengthy fundamentalist discussions.

Three episodes in I can't say I am impressed by this series of air combat during WWII. It is the same in each episode. The German attack fighters just come from everywhere without any clear tactic. It is just like a computer game. Please get better in the next episodes, if I make it that far. The main characters behave like wizened old man and seem to speak with a kind of wisdom guys, even officers, at that age would not have. Let's wait and see.