Leo Ovshtein

Combining elements from Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn with The Little Mermaid, "Luca" tries to deliver a "Finding Nemo" message. The result is a colourful, occasionally relatable, mostly boring, mess.

It starts with an amazing promise. You see the cocktail being concocted right in front of you - one fifth The Matrix, one fifth cyberpunk, add a hint of classic Philip K.Dick sci-fi, squeeze in a slice of film noir, and fill the rest with Hong Kong martial arts. Smell it, drink it, and get ready for an amazing ride. A universe set on a distant world thousands of years in the future, an action packed adventure and an exploration of the human condition. By episode 4 or 5 you slowly begin to realise you've been tricked. There is no Asimov-like vision here, there is no amazing universe, no truly innovative ideas besides the one the show is based around, no characters you really care about. All you're left with is best described as NCIS:LA set in the near future. You get cliches and tropes, you get anachronisms that make you want to scream at the screen, you get a boringly predictable plot interlaced with poorly filmed action sequences, and you're left looking at the screen thinking - is this really it? Unfortunately, it is.