2,962 posts
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Post by crowblack on Jan 21, 2018 17:59:35 GMT
Is anyone else on here watching this? Any thoughts? It's on Sky and Now TV, which is a pay as you go service. I thought of bailing out after 40 mins of the first episode - the characters didn't really engage me - but gave it another go and it perked up in the last half hour, so I'm going to plough on. The script's by Jez Butterworth, and I heard a reviewer say it reminded them of Jerusalem, especially the Outcast character, though I didn't see it - those of you who did, is it? It seems to be more positively reviewed by the broadsheets than the tabloids, which are scathing.
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Post by Marwood on Jan 21, 2018 18:49:37 GMT
Reviews I've seen online but have been mixed (to say the least) - I think I'll wait for the blu-ray to be on sale for £6 in Fopp before I investigate.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jan 22, 2018 12:19:26 GMT
I didn't clock that this was a Butterworth... I shall have to watch now
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jan 22, 2018 23:15:03 GMT
Oh dear, what a mess.
It is not helped by an overwrought soundtrack that distracts from rather than enhances the action.
There were far too many characters introduced too quickly making it a lot of effort to try to track what is going on.
The druidic stuff was utterly overplayed.
As ever, the violence was excessive and unnecessary for narrative purposes. The same goes for the female partial nudity.
I might try one more episode to see if it settles - but it is not showing enough promise for me to be excited about it. Shame
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2,962 posts
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Post by crowblack on Jan 22, 2018 23:24:37 GMT
I might try one more episode Yes, I feel I ought to give it more time - on the one hand, I don't want a TV world where everything has the same format, but to demand 7 hours or whatever of my life they do need to have engaging characters and a plot hook and thus far, it doesn't, apart from the girl. It took me a couple of attempts to get into Game of Thrones, but that was to do with the kitschy, leery nudity in the early series - it has always been strong on characters and hooks. |
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2,962 posts
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Post by crowblack on Feb 19, 2018 10:51:28 GMT
I haven't got round to watching the rest of this yet but probably will at some point. It has been commissioned for a second series, though, so it must have found its audience. Series 2 will reportedly be filmed in the UK rather than Eastern Europe - I wonder if that's to do with the exchange rate, wanting a less alien-looking landscape (Britannia didn't look all that British, from the bits I saw), or whether you can get a better/more famous cast if they can work more locally? Given Butterworth's reputation I'd have expected to see more familiar faces popping up than I did - Collateral (which is disappointing) has a fantastic cast, presumably signed up because of David Hare and filming in London.
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2,962 posts
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Post by crowblack on May 8, 2018 10:32:09 GMT
Well, I still haven't got round to the rest of series 1 yet (though Now TV have just sent me a box so I can watch it through my telly), but series 2 filming is now underway, judging by David Morrissey's instagram.
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