GORDON RAE

What a dreadful weakly constructed, and contrived, end to an otherwise reasonably interesting piece of 'soap like' drama. If you have nothing else to watch then pass a few hours on this. .and skip the last episode 🥹

It tries very hard to be controversial, interesting and gripping.. and it looks authentic in it's use of fashion and cars. BUT the plot lines with flash backs, dream sequences and nightmares, tied to a ,'realistically' sounding soundtrack which would be impossible to understand without subtitles, makes the ambitious project a complete waste of your viewing time

I wanted to like it but just could not engage with the varying story lines and 'quick cut' editing which seemed at odds with the intended epic status of the film. The overall 'tone' of the film may have been seeking to appear 'authentic' but merely succeeded in looking drab in much of its scenes. Action sequences were mostly of a high standard so credit to the 2nd unit direction and execution. Sorry to say that in the end it looked like a number of 'episodes', or pilots, had been pulled together to make one main feature. Nothing was helped by the addition of a confusing "highlights from our next episode" section to close Chapter One . I 'may' return to see what happens next but it will only be in the hope that "things can only get better"!

Like the book itself, it wove the several story lines together in a way that the viewer could play with the thought that somehow they would converge in a dramatic denouement but . The ending was unfortunately silly rather than dramatic . And there seemed no satisfactory explanation as to cause of the ultimate demise (spoiler here) of the central figure . There were some very good scatalogical lines though!

I have just finished watching one the best produced and acted series I have ever seen on any streaming channel. The decision to 'film' in black and white was inspired as the subject matter is in itself dark and disturbing. But the considered use of light and shade in the staging of almost every scene is what makes the entire production a pleasure to view. So good is the use of black and white that one can only want to freeze the frame and enjoy the image for longer than the editing has chosen . And none of the above 'swamps' the acting of the entire cast, in particular Andrew Scott as the anti hero of the film, virtually never off screen for the entire eight hours Now, a rant! Having taken on the costs, and risks, of producing this amazing work in black and white, why oh why do the 'programmers' at Netflix fail to let us see the names and credits for the entire work? My viewing of the series was unnecessarily devalued by the rush to show me "similar programmes you may enjoy". Note to Netflix...please pay more respect to your 'product' and to your client audience

Oh dear. ..did everyone curse and swear so much back then? Great sets, but what a waste of acting talent.

What the hell were they trying to do with this mess of a film? Only Michael Camino could have wasted money the way that it has been spent here. Neither drama, nor comedy, nor satire...not even documentary. This lumpen mess of a vanity exercise staggers, trips and finally (three hours later) lurches to an end leaving the viewer confused but relieved that there can be no more.....ever.

Witless, pointless waste of time. My partner and I both fell asleep twice. Fortunately we woke in time to save the evening by turning it off before it ended. Shockingly awful.

Interesting casting of Mel Gibson as a happily married, aging cop moving to the dark side. For readers of classic American pulp fiction. Slow, deliberate with the feeling and style of 50s b/w crime movies plus present day gratuitous violence.

Started out as different then just went all the way to weird, with a few stops along the way, including a Shakespearean quotation. Just hope the cast had fun as the location looked good.