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Reviews
Masters of the Air (2024)
Ouch... elbows out! Tricks missed everywhere.
This has been a while in the making and sadly it fluffed its lines on opening night. As many reviews already suggest, casting is mediocre, plot is thin and script is poor. BoB was based on thousands of hours of interviews undertaken by Stephen Ambrose. It was personal. We heard from the men involved and we became attached to their stories. The Pacific marginally less so but the story was robust and accurate - plus the old soldiers testimonies lent credibility. Ambrose's 'Bomber Boys' would have been better source material thin this vapour tail thin tale... as he recorded thousands of hours of aircrew interviews. The technical detail is OK but cramming multiple missions and characters into 60 minutes was poorly done. It's not engaging in the same way BoB was riveting. I'm an amateur though thorough WWII historian who has read much on the air war and am saddened by the lazy treatment of clichéd encounters, interacting with Brits, RAF pilots - who had been fighting for 4 years before the Americans turned up - and the 100mph gloss-over story telling. The USAAF had a brutal war; casualties were horrific as the daylight raids were literally suicide runs. Blending fewer stories and personalities would have made this more of a story.
Fair to middling only.
Avenue 5 (2020)
Space: A Laugh-free Frontier
Avenue 5 was heavily promoted prior to launch, but when the trailers so obviously highlight the comedy high-points, you know the show is in trouble.
The script writing is tragically inept for such an experienced ensemble cast headed by the brilliant Hugh Laurie. So much so, that even his comedic genius can't save this HBO flop. It's not the sum of its parts failing, as the idea is sound. Nor is it a paucity of material-generating opportunities, I mean, space tourism is ripe for satire.
Where this fails, is laboured writing, a reliance on tired slapstick, and poor implementation from creator Armando Iannucci. It's like the scenario unfolding on Avenue 5 itself; it's trajectory is miles off course and no amount of crafting can resurrect this doomed space folly.
Which is a little sad as I was looking forward to seeing Laurie back in comedy. He is a master and I can only assume he was helping out a fellow Brit, or was contracted to HBO 'site unseen'. Whatever the reason, Avenue 5, like many space ventures, should have had its launch aborted.
Black Earth Rising (2018)
Good, Bad, Excellent, Flawed
Episode 1 set a plausible scene, with credible characters played by an excellent cast. The writing is direct and cuts to the chase quickly though the scenes move through quickly, ensuring that you're drawn in and buy into the storyline.
But in a bid to set the scene before moving quickly on, some flaws do appear.
In Epidode 2, the scenes played out at The Hague International Criminal Court, are just too implausible. This is a trial of significance, an infamous war criminal is on trial, yet security is lax, implausibly so - as if it's a planning consent hearing.
Wouldbe assassins manage to pass weapons through a security X-ray machine in a farcical scene that is more slapstick than high clever drama. And when the events play outside the ICC, the lack of a security response cheapens an otherwise good storyline.
Which diminishes the viewing pleasure. Blick is s clever and creative director, and the DOP brings elegance to the screen.
Episodes 3 and beyond need to steer the plot away from the rocky shore and deliver on the promise.