oli smith

There are no spoilers in this review and it is written by someone who has watched the series since its inception and has continued to watch well after its relevance. I remember watching the first season of Luther when it first aired on BBC1 with my mum. It was an intelligent cerebral drama about a troubled yet well meaning homicide detective who had to hunt down the worst kind of criminals imaginable. It never tried to hide the fact that his methods went in the opposite direction of conventional policing methods. Luther was always a flawed man who only wanted to bring the serial killers and rapists to justice. If you have watched the series then please don’t watch this travesty of a film. We seem to live in an age where long standing characters (as well as the actors) from well written tv shows and films undergo an unceremonious farewell. The film starts strong in the first act showing Luther’s desire for justice. Elba and Serkis both played their respective roles outstandingly. But this isn’t about their quality as actors. This is about the lack of quality and attention to writing. It slowly drags itself into what ends as an intercontinental man hunt for a villain which was woefully under explored. Instead of the advertised ‘cop on the run hunting a vicious and sadistic killer’ it becomes a boring slog through poor character development and, true to Netflix’s slowly dying reputation, over grandiose drivel. I would not recommend anyone watch this poorly paced, shoddily written mess of a film. After watching it I desperately long for the two hours and ten minutes which I have wasted. I don’t recommend anyone watch this movie, prior knowledge of Luther or not. It’s simply non sensical trash that has no place being in the number one spot of movies on Netflix.