The Underground Railroad (2021) User Reviews

Heavy duty TV mini series is worth checking out but beware...

[paul-allaer · 7/10 · 14 May 2021]

"The Underground Railroad" (2021 release; 10 episodes ranging from 41 to 78 min.) brings an alternative view/take on the actual Underground Railroad of the 19th century. As Episode 1 "Georgia" opens, we are introduced to Cora and Caesar, the latter being eager to escape the plantation they are on. Upon hearing black music, one of the plantation masters is enraged and whips one of the slaves half to death. "It is past time to go", Caesar implores Cora, and they finally decide to run away in the dead of night...

Couple of comments: this TV series is the brainchild of Oscar winning writer-producer-creator-director Barry Jenkins, working from the novel of the same name by Colson Whitehead. I've not read the book and hence I cannot comment how closely the TV series sticks to the book. The opening episode makes for difficult viewing for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, there is a reason why this series is rated 18, meaning it is unsuitable for anyone under age 18: there are quite a few disturbing scenes in which slaves are whipped, abused and outright lynched/burned alive, all for the entertainment of the plantation's master, who for good measure is reading from the bible to the slaves while a slave is burned alive. Yea, it's like that. The other reason is that this TV series about the Underground Railroad takes historical liberties. No, there wasn't an actual train on rails underground where slaves could hop on on their way to freedom. (The actual Underground Railroad was a secret network of people and safe houses. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center here in Cincinnati, where I live, simply referred to as the Freedom Center by us locals, is an outstanding museum dedicated to this topic. Of course Cincinnati was the first major city across the Dixie line and this region played a major historical role in this important movement.)

Frankly, if it weren't for the reputation of Barry Jenkins, I don't know that I could invest in 10 episodes of this. This is indeed anything but cheerful TV viewing, but it is an important topic that needs to be seen and discussed by many more people. If you have any interest in the Underground Railroad or are simply interested in a disturbing historical era of this country, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Emotionally Hard to watch but excellent quality across the boards!

[mstaffordca · 7/10 · 15 May 2021]

Fantastic production value wonderful acting overall a high quality series but beware it is extremely hard to watch at times and gets heart wrenching.. Can get slow at times. But definitely still worth watching!

Deeply moving magical realist interpretation of the Underground Railroad

[steiner-sam · 7/10 · 6 June 2021]

This 10-part series is filled with deeply impactful scenes of the African-American experience in the South and southern Indiana in the pre-Civil War era.

Cora Randall, the escaped slave, and Arnold Ridgeway, the slave catcher, are unforgettable characters. Some of the violence is extremely graphic.

The series takes a magical realist approach to the story, which is not my favored approach to fiction. I found some symbolism very distracting and the many very dimly-lit scenes hard to follow.

Worth watching.

Haters don't understand that it's fiction with poetic license

[gracenash-54321 · 10/10 · 18 May 2021]

This movie, based on a Pulitzer-winning fantasy fiction novel, is heavy with emotion, violence, and even hope. Those who are looking for fast-paced action or historical accuracy may not enjoy it, but those who appreciate strong characters and a rich story will find it rewarding.

While it throws out some realism to make way for historical metaphors, it stays fiercely loyal to the themes of this dark time in our nation's history. The viewer's emotions are taken on a rough ride with complex characters (especially Homer) and continually changing circumstances.

I'll watch this series many times, and now cannot wait to read the book.

An adaptation of a moving novel

[kdparrack · 10/10 · 14 May 2021]

I read a few reviews talking about the accuracy/timeliness of the series. Factually, if you haven't read the book by Colson Whitehead, this seems like an inaccurate and propagandistic show. But make no mistake, this series is about the novel. As an adaptation of Whitehead's novel, Jenkins respects the source material and leads a superior cast. Each actor's emotions aren't expressed in the normal way we expect actors to emote. Each character's trauma has repressed their ability to emote and empathize. Cora's story is one of survival - and this adaptation (or what I've seen so far) does a great job at capturing how Cora copes with the changes in her life. And yes - in the case of the show and novel - the Underground Railroad IS real and tangible. Cora actually sees and follows it in the last chapter.

We, as viewers, know this isn't true, but it's an unusual take on the impersonal history I was taught in high school. This show humanizes slavery, the suffering, and the atrocities that were committed to further capitalism and oppress people with more melanin than their European cousins. But stick with it, please. Watch to the end. I know I will.

Great show, just not historically accurate, but that's okay

[JokerReviews · 9/10 · 17 May 2021]

The wife and I are 5 episodes in and so far its excellent, but there's a few things you should know before jumping in, spoiler free.

Number one is this show is not historically accurate in anyway and that's okay, but you should know that. The only true thing about this show is that slavery existed and there was an "underground railroad", but that is not accurately represented.

The Underground Railroad in this show is a literal railroad and in the historical sense it was not, but rather used as a way to secretly communicate the movement of runaway slaves to the north. There are also several other historical inaccuracies, but again that's okay as long as you look at the show as a complete work of fiction that has SOME historical context.

That being said, the show is excellent when you omit historical accuracy. Its a great work of fiction with good acting, cinematography, directing and writing. Very enjoyable and look forward to seeing the end of the story.

Has a few highs, but overall a dreadful bore-fest

[drashyagoel · 6/10 · 17 May 2021]

The enormously well-received series starts strong with an incredibly powerful pilot episode, and a very interesting second one. But that's where the charm ends, and the show becomes obsessed with incredibly boring white characters. I dragged it out till episode 8 so far, and will definitely finish the show - but I think it should just have ended at Episode 2.

Arnold Ridgeway - the most pathetically boring character invented in 2021.

Must see tv

[Alwnva · 9/10 · 20 May 2021]

Barry Jenkins does what he does best! Beautiful cinematography, amazing score, excellent casting and acting, the pace is deliberate (if not a bit slow). Stand out episodes South Carolina, Fannie Briggs (for the cinematography), Indiana Winter (whew). I love that there aren't any standout stars to distract you as well....that being said you will see a lot for this cast in the future. I definitely recommend but I don't think you should binge it. The subject matter is heavy and you need to allow time to absorb the subtle details.

Not as gripping as it tries to be

[angeljs-1 · 6/10 · 20 May 2021]

First of all, I was a bit shocked to see this rated PG. It should have been at the very least a 12. The first episode, especially, is very gritty with some disturbing scenes. Perhaps not at graphic as some shows today, but still not for children, IMHO.

Secondly, after the gripping first 2 episodes, this becomes very, very slow, with scenes stretched out for far, too long.

I didn't mind the flashbacks, but it would have been so much better if the pace had been faster, rather than showing everything in excruciating detail.

Thirdly, I know it wasn't supposed to be historically accurate, but having actual trains running underground with no-one up above ever hearing or finding them was too far-fetched, never mind how long it would have taken to dig the tunnels and steal a train to run down there!

Also, not all whites were abusers, even in the deep South. Many hated slavery and helped a lot of slaves to escape to the North, but in this portrayal almost all whites are bad and use the 'N' word far, too often.

The program did, however, show how slaves were treated as less than nothing. Property to be used and disposed of on a whim. Sometimes it's easy to forget just how bad it was.

All-in-all it was watchable, but slow-paced, far-fetched and graphic in parts.

Didn't Do For Me What The Source Book Did

[zkonedog · 5/10 · 17 January 2022]

When I read Colson Whitehead's "Underground Railroad" book, I was impressed by the author's ability to capture the essence--both physically and emotionally--of the institution of slavery in the United States. Unfortunately, this Barry Jenkins TV adaptation didn't do nearly as much of that for me.

For a very basic overview, "The Underground Railroad" tells the story of Cora (Thuso Mbedu), a young woman slave who escapes her Georgia plantation via the help of the Underground Railroad of yore. But in this story, the locomotive is literal as opposed to metaphorical. While continuing to head towards free country, Cora makes numerous stops in varying locales, experiencing the different ways in which African-Americans are treated. All the while, she is pursued by Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton), a slave bounty-hunter with a complicated past of his own.

From a production value standpoint, there isn't much wrong with "Underground Railroad". It clearly takes it mission very seriously (almost too seriously, in all honesty) and puts to the screen a gritty, realistic vision of Cora's life and times. In other words, I see where a supreme effort was made by all involved to elevate this to classic status.

But as I hinted, it also seemed like everything here was trying "a bit too hard", so to speak. To the point where I never felt like I emotionally connected with much of the material. For example...

-The acting seems fine, in a technical sense, but it never once "goes for the throat" in terms of really trying to make a point or punctuate an emotion. It almost exclusively tries to rely on the visuals and realism of the scenes playing out.

-Cora's journey is supposed to be broad and intriguing, but here it feels disjointed and scattered. Her time with Caesar (Aaron Pierre) and her time with Royal (William Jackson Harper) are indeed unique, but I never saw--in the end--how they dovetailed with each other.

-A decent amount of time is spent giving Ridgeway a daddy-issues (played by Peter Mullan) backstory, and theoretically that should all work. But the slave-catcher's deeds are so despicable and maniacal that I found it difficult to feel for him on any level other than "villain of the piece".

-A plot thread involving Cora's mother Mabel (Sheila Atim) is used to end the proceedings, and fell completely flat for me. This was clearly supposed to provide the emotional end-punch of the whole series, but again more just muddied the waters for this viewer.

About halfway through "Underground Railroad", I had it pegged as 7/10 stars. But after that point, it had little further ground to trod and the endgame didn't compel me to put all the emotional pieces together (hence the middling 5/10 final rating land).

Of course, I'll always wonder if "Underground Railroad" would have hit different for all viewers had it not debuted during the teeth of a global pandemic. This is a miniseries that doesn't go down easily from a physical or emotional perspective, and perhaps a weary nation wasn't in the mood for such a thing. All told, this is one that ultimately didn't have much of an impact on me one way or the other.

A masterclass in longform storytelling

[travismcghie · 10/10 · 14 May 2021]

I have long been a fan of Barry Jenkins' approach to storytelling - he captures with great visual poetry the loud moments, the quiet moments and every moment in between. Like with Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk, Jenkins deploys a humanistic lens to try to better understand what is residing in the souls of his characters.

Yes, there are elements of trauma in this narrative and how could there not be given the telling of this origin story? However, over time, the series opens up and I personally find a strong focus on Black resilience and victory. To me, the capacity to find lightness and love after so much trauma/pain has been inflicted upon bodies, hearts and minds is quite astonishing.

My heart is forever affected by this story. A must watch.

worth a watch

[mugwumpcylinder · 7/10 · 4 February 2022]

Historical? No. War? No. Biographical? No? Of course I knew there was no actual railroad underground - so just enjoy it for what it is - some good stories, very well done. All the white men are cruel monsters, but still it's very easy to imagine any of the stories could have taken place. A little slow at times, dwells too much on scenery. Lots of brutality, lots of cruelty and violence.

It's Roots with a female lead. And she is very good.

I liked it - 7 rating seems about right.

Decent But Not For Everyone

[james-s-walker3 · 5/10 · 16 May 2021]

This mini-series has pretty good acting and has some beautiful scenery. But I didn't feel like I was always watching a young woman's attempt to escape slavery as much as a 10-part Twilight Zone or Black Mirror.

There's a lot of strange dialogue between some characters. There are lots of flashbacks that don't add anything to the story and would be more suited for a sci-fi anthology series.

It's not bad, but overall it just wasn't for me.

Masterful

[sweidman-28016 · 9/10 · 26 May 2021]

"Nothing was given. All was earned. Hold onto what belongs to you."

Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, a young woman named Cora makes an amazing discovery during her attempt to break free from slavery in the Deep South in The Underground Railroad. Barry Jenkins is a literal god because he's incapable of making anything not beautiful. He has made success with If Beale Street Could Talk and Moonlight - which he won best adapted screenplay and there's the infamous best picture card mistake where it won over La La Land. By now, how could you expect any less than a masterpiece? And that's The Underground Railroad. Personally, I prefer his other films slightly more, but this is another amazing work. What entails is an epic and horrific journey with Cora traveling to freedom for slavery. Thuso Mbedu is masterful. This isn't a big performance like with Cynthia Erivo in Harriet (a disappointing movie with a great lead performance). Mbedu is more for the emotion and having to almost bottle everything up to save herself. It's hard to watch but what a well written character. All performances are great. William Jackson Harper has a supporting role and he has his best performance yet. Joel Edgerton as Ridgeway is absolutely wicked. He's very good at playing the bad guy. And for a youth performance, Chase Dillon as Homer is really good. You wouldn't think you'd get such good acting from an eleven-year-old.

The story might be slow for some, and it's intended to be that way. There are a few episodes that suffer from moments that drag a little, but it's easy to get past. Not everyone can handle slow burns, but I find you can get some of the best work from them. And with Barry Jenkins directing it's hard to find any flaws in both writing and execution. The writing is powerful. We've had cases of stories like this saying "racism and slavery is bad" and not much else. There's so much to be gained. We could use more like this. I know there have been complaints about the story in regards to plot. This is based on a historical fiction book. Historical fiction, obviously, means not everything is exactly history. For some reason, there's a fine group of people who can't wrap their head around it. Don't blame the series. Don't even blame the novel. If you don't like historical fiction, then don't watch it. Also don't watch one episode or less and give the whole series the lowest score possible. There have been many issues with that across multiple platforms. It bugs me and isn't doing anyone any good. If you don't like it, you can stop watching it and move on rather than going off about it.

Not only do we have the god that is Barry Jenkins, but we also have Nicholas Britell doing the score and James Laxton on camera. Starting with the score, Nicholas Britell is doing next-level work like all of his scores. For me, this is tied with Moonlight in second place for his best score right behind If Beale Street Could Talk. It's intense, longing, and overall just amazing with how it affects the atmosphere. As for the camera work, this is the best I've seen since Nomadland and 1917. Wow, is it breathtaking! There's emotion behind each frame and it captures everything gorgeously. There's hardly anything to complain about. And I mentioned the only issue I had was with some pacing. If you choose to watch this, I'd recommend trying to binge it all at once or at least close together. It's just that good and once you've watched one episode, it's hard not to watch the next. The Underground Railroad is easily one of the best limited series, and just regular series I've seen. Let's hope it can rack up some Emmys this come September. With as much emotion as it contains, I don't know how you can't connect with it in some way. Barry Jenkins hasn't failed us yet and certainly won't anytime soon.

Raw, heartbreaking and full of truth.

[andersenamy · 10/10 · 14 May 2021]

I cried openly throughout the entire first episode. Finally a realistic account of the hell of slavery has been delivered without sugar coating. This series is a raw, uncensored look at what human beings went through during the horrific times of slavery. It has opened my eyes and my heart. It is very hard to watch if you are extremely sensitive to this subject. But in my personal opinion, this series NEEDS to be watched.

Forget the last 4 years and enjoy!!!

[glenn_gallagher · 9/10 · 14 May 2021]

Dont let today's world climate affect your decision to watch this show. Across the board a fantastic production that ticks all the boxes. Visually amazing, Great story, Good acting but most importantly it captures you from the start. This will be an extremely easy binge watch. The content is pretty fully on so tread lightly, this is not a family watch.

A Dramatic Series..but don't watch for history

[user-415-133374 · 7/10 · 16 May 2021]

The Underground Railroad is a very graphic and sensational drama, but should not be viewed to learn the history behind the real Underground Railroad. The series takes enormous dramatic license, portraying slavery in the most brutal way possible, much as the recent film "Harriet" did, as did the remake of "Roots" in 2016. While the institution of slavery in America was barbaric, including untold oppression and sexual assault, most mainstream historians today agree that plantation slave masters did not routinely torture and murder their slaves for the sheer pleasure of it. The idea of "torture parties", as depicted in the series, where white gentile enjoy drinks and food while watching slaves tortured to death, in all likelihood did not occur.

The series also depicts an actual railroad beneath the earth, ferrying slaves to freedom on a secret train through hollowed out railway tunnels. This for me was a very big turnoff from the series, since this aspect was pure fiction. The actual Underground Railroad was a network of safe-houses and way stations for slaves fleeing north and there was never an actual train underground, which in itself is fantastical for obvious reasons such as how would such a train be maintained and where would the coal exhaust go in enclosed tunnels.

In all, the series is a good dramatic piece with action and suspense, but should be not be viewed as a historical film.

A limited series that does not disappoint.

[thejulman · 10/10 · 14 May 2021]

Barry Jenkins brings this epic alternate history adaptation to life as a cinematic spectacle that really has to be seen, processed and appreciated. From the cinematography, the score, the performances it will all stick with you after viewing the final episode. Easily one of the most powerful series this year that is at times hard to watch like any serious subject matter but also delivers those elevated moments of joy and love that fills the soul.

Decent entertainment but beware of revisionist history

[bobokelly22 · 6/10 · 14 May 2021]

These recent offerings of slavery era Hollywood films are more entertaining than they are historically accurate. "Harriet," starring Cynthia Eurivo, was filled with sensationalism and at times approached embarrassment. Underground Railroad while undoubtedly compelling, does compromise some historical truths, though probably not nearly enough to alert the average viewer.

The direction almost ruined it for me

[jakethesnake-42007 · 5/10 · 19 May 2021]

The story it self is amazing I loved how there's An actual Underground Railroad and I love the story of the characters. Now to what I didn't like and what almost ruined the whole mini series for me is

• the direction it's god awful and all over the place. I know it's trying to me art but at times it was to much.

-confusing at times. They could of done a better job with tying the episodes together. One episode ends with Cora escaping on the railroad and the next she is working as an actress at a slave Museum and we don't know how she got there.

-Slow episodes. Some episodes are so slow and drags on and on

• Muffled dialogue and can't see the screen cause it's so dark

It's not for everyone and it took a lot for me to finish but I stuck with it and it turns out good. It's nothing great but it's an intersection story.

It's not about the history, but the feeling

[eduardo-luiz-s06 · 10/10 · 19 May 2021]

One day The Underground Railroad will be considered one of the greatest TV shows ever made.

It is a portrait of pain, wickedness, and hopelessness.

Not all episodes are great, but those that are will touch your heart in ways you've never felt.

Not the best way to end

[fulvio-32314 · 6/10 · 15 May 2021]

The beginning of the story was great and thrilling. Right at the middle it becomes weird and extremely slow. Too bad.

Also, there is just so much fiction but it might be a good thing too dopending on the standopoint.

A Real Railroad??

[flowersliv · 1/10 · 12 December 2021]

Hard to watch someone rewrite what the underground railroad truly was. Not for kids or the uneducated. If we keep fantasizing historical names, then the road to freedom was accessible. The movie missed the entire weight and sacrifice o the underground movement.

Masterpiece

[philthegreatone-786-63058 · 9/10 · 29 May 2021]

This series is so beautifully done. Cora is a slave in the south and decides to escape through an Underground Railroad. She gets captured for a while and struggles to keep hope through the darkness. Her experience is harrowing experience from what she has to go through. The cinematography in this series is gorgeous to look at. The score is incredible. The costumes are really well thought out and beautiful. The story telling in this series so beautiful and interesting to watch. The actress that plays young Cora is amazing in this breakout performance. I highly recommend this series.

Beautiful, thoughtful and moving. Must Watch

[concautela · 10/10 · 14 May 2021]

I'm only a few episodes in but I'm loving this beautiful and powerful adaptation of Colson Whitehead's novel. Stunning visuals, some heavy moments but a portray of love and beauty.