Reviews

It's not awful; a bit heavy on the "Harper Valley" small-town drama and teen angst (..especially for what looks to be a British-produced series), but it's still developing characters and story. It doesn't kick straight in like a "Penny Dreadful" but it held my interest.

For only one episode the acting is very passable, writing as well, and I like that they don't give up the whole season in the first ep. Post-episode previews are flashy, but this first one is subtle on the special and practical effects so not a whole lot of "eye-candy" on the way in. It may be that they're going out of the way a bit in terms of suspending disbelief, but it's still a fun watch so far.

If this was such a compelling story, it would stand on its own without having to usurp the luster of characters from a true master storyteller. But it's basically a horror story wrapped around a misfit drama with almost nothing to do with Tolkein's original history of Valinor and Middle Earth; it "borrows" character names and plot elements with no respect to the originals. In short, it plagiarizes just enough material from the Silmarillion to falsely advertise a pedigree it just does NOT possess. It shamelessly rides on the coattails of much better creations and previous art because without that, it would be just another boring visual effects fest. It is callow an uninspired.

If, like me, you were expecting a brief history of Valinor leading into how Sauron and the Rings of Power came to be, maybe even get to lay eyes on a quick visual of Morgoth or Ungoliant, you can safely give this a pass and avoid the disappointment.

Like "Lost", this is just yet-another "shared nightmare" schlockfest. Tried to like it - very presentable acting and a few mildly interesting "backstories", but the balance of the story and writing is incredibly lazy, going from one dead-end plot to the next without attempting to catch a breath in-between (..which may be the whole "point"..?).

The "mysteries" are pointless, poorly presented, and often cliché. Despite the decent acting, exactly NONE of these characters are relatable or loveable. The character stories, despite good acting and some potential, end up being rambling, uninspired, and long-winded exposés. You can fast-forward though largish chunks of most episodes and not miss a single thing other than gobs of meandering melodrama.

In short, this looks like a bad concept for a "reality" show akin to "Survivor" or "Big Brother" but with some supernatural elements added to stir up drama. It's crap.

How this could fail with talent like Denzel Washington and Rami Malek I don't know, but it did. It's not an awful film, but with that cast I was just expecting so much more.

There was a point, somewhere after Jared Leto's character became involved, that this was shaping up to be a decent cat-n-mouse detective story, but just falls flat. Jared is his usual typecast, thoroughly dislikeable psycho. But Denzel and Rami (along with a balance of thoroughly forgettable characters) just don't seem to mix well at all. What little dialog there is in this film sounds forced and uninspired. Certainly my critique on this film is based on perhaps unrealistic expectations, but I still say it should have been so much better.

This is NOT a good movie, but it is damn fun to watch, but that's possibly due to my own nostalgia. The CGI and other effects are all, without exception, stunning - eye-catching - freaky-cool - whatever. It's a completely-epic and shameless monster slugfest. I happily abandon the the rubber-suited actors of my childhood for these CGI marvels.

Bit it is a pretty awful movie, really. The acting is ok, but they really aren't given that much to work with in terms of script or story; I'm guessing they were at least paid well-enough that they won't be disappointed at the lack of any Academy Award nominations. And the story is well beyond the pale in terms of anything even vaguely plausible, but ultimately meaningless in terms of what (I thought) this movie was for: a ridiculously over-produced, outrageously-budgeted cartoon. Go into the movie expecting just that and it won't fail to please.

I'd like to say the acting was at least good, but it really wasn't. All attempts for this to be chique, cool, and/or dystopian are just obliterated by the awful dialog and a script that tries to reach for a backstory for its characters that simply doesn't exist. The action scenes are clipped and shaky, as well as the overall cinematography (if you can call it that) being almost non-existent.

This is a top-shelf Razzie if ever I saw one.

Reference: Just finished Season 2.

Disclaimer: I'm a sucker for any even-decently-done historical drama, and even more entertained by alternate histories. I also would have only given this an 8/10 if it weren't for all the whining reviews regarding "oh no it's woke" and/or "it's not the space cartoon I wanted" and felt I should give it an extra star to offset that silliness. I've been a Republican probably longer than most of the negative reviewers have been alive; if you used your review to play silly political buggers, shame on you. That being said...

The Good: The story, an alternative history of the 1960s-1990s "Space Race" is superbly done. Incorporates actual historical events, politics, and various cultural references in an interesting mix of nostalgia, possibility, and of course, outright fiction. Excellent mixtures of historical footage and CGI that tells the story without becoming the story. Most of the scientific realism is superior for shows of this genre - except for one glaring exception.

The Bad: Like most recent historical dramas built for TV, this spends a LOT of time with unfinished narratives, not only in its history but in its character development. Trying to relate a decade's worth of history in a mere 10 episode season just makes for too much glossing-over. I get that there's budgets and schedules and short attention spans that need catering to, but I still wish it had more patience.

The Ugly: Without creating a spoiler, there is one AWFUL "science stupid" that rears its ugly head, and it's nuclear and flies. Enough said there.

The pacing of the show obviously doesn't appeal to some, but it's still very well done, and a credit to the writers, actors, and crew involved in its creation.

Looking forward to season three.

It's all of crude, gory, joyfully over-the-top nonsense. I've never seen the source comic but this is certainly in every way a comic book come to life. Despite a large portion of the (excellent) cast being not-American, this show is a shamelessly and well-executed embodiment of American kitsch, up there with hamburgers and apple pie; an epic fatty, sugary, guilty pleasure.