Osmiumos Reviews

Culprits (2023– )

Still looking for good heist stories, still looking for coherent characters

[19 March 2024]

My favourite genre, but so few of real quality. We watch in hope of finding another gem and this combines three components in one series: recruiting a team for a one-and-done job, the getaway, and the aftermath. The aftermath is the main story, having completely left old lives behind and beginning anew with new identities and untraceable lives - my favourite part to see how they pull this off in the modern security camera-social media-AI-facial recognition world. That's what keeps me watching. But the setup/recruitment for the job with Gemma posing and preening as a cliched, hard as nails crime boss is pitiful. I like her in other roles, but this is ridiculous. Too many movies/series have actors posing ridiculously as cliched toughies and it is way beyond capacity for suspension of disbelief. It can work in action films because of the fast pace - you scoff/laugh but the grunting and choreographed fight scenes/car chases move you relentlessly along without pause so they get away with it. That's the trick of action films, just good fun. But these slower paced jobs that want to be taken seriously cannot get away with this Milli Vanilli approach of stylish pretence as a substitute for substance. Gemma stepping straight out of wardrobe and immaculate colour-coded makeup, Jo muscle stepping straight out of the hair salon with a new, immaculate hairdo... just stupid.

I agree with the frustration expressed by others about taking the time to introduce competent, skilful characters only to have them behave out of character an episode later... why bother! We have an assassin who never misses, unless she's shooting at an old bloke in a tracksuit... all of a sudden she's inaccurate, only when shooting at this one guy... total role reversal. A professional assassin with a safe, spacious, anonymous, art filled storage lock up with power and a cache of weapons but... no meds, no first aid kit... has a fridge but zero provisions - full of one brand of soda. But whatever you do, don't hole up there because it's not set up as a safe room bolt hole... but the biggest somersault is Gemma's stoic unemotional character morphing into a weepy girl in the final scenes.

I know there were no female characters in Reservoir Dogs team, nor the Layer Cake team, nor the Snatch or Oceans 11 crews. I get this is targeting a broader audience in a different era and the obligations to include more female characters and gay characters - but you have to make it work. Genna is too young for the role, and the costume/hair/makeup departments got her character wrong, I get they were going for control and authority but it doesn't work... and then at the end they totally backflip on their initial intention and her character totally loses control and goes to water emotionally.

Pick a fvcking approach - if you want to write strong female characters, don't be such hypocrites and morph them into weepy emotional train wrecks when you are tooooo fvcking lazy and unimaginative to write a coherent finale without fatally compromising your supposedly strong female character. Shame on all of you - writers, director and producers. Pathetic.

The other characters are not worth mentioning.

So it's my genre, and I've watched to the end, and I'm still left dissatisfied and craving quality.

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

No. So disappointed by this grossly overhyped, sad film

[7 March 2024]

Nolan made the telling of the story as complicated as he possibly could... as is his way. Made it a story of McCarthy inquisition and told the story of the Manhattan project via a sequence of flashbacks to overdramatised moments with actors expressing pithy cliches. Turned the story of the biggest applied R&D project in history and development of applied atomic science into an individual cult of personality and a bureaucratic conspiracy. Not the story I tuned in for, and i struggle to believe this found any sort of broad audience. Nice suits, great lighting, overbearing music, a very long and tediously, implausibly dramatised telling of a significant history.

1923 (2022–2023)

Mostly filler, very slow story progression

[2/10 · 28 February 2024]

Goooood grief!

What a massive disappointment.

Episode after episode wasted on filler.

Yes, yes, we have it... the journey to the US from Africa was indirect and challenging... but come on, the entire tugboat/capsizing/rescue at sea was sooooo boring and sooooo farcical. Coming on the back of the ridiculous pile of unread letters episode that served only to avoid explanation of how the recent, urgent letter found its way to them at all. Bull shlt. I cannot remember sticking with a show that makes us groan out loud, we are now fast forwarding past this absolute garbage in the hope that the story will get back on track when they finally, finally get back to the ranch.

Yep, it's that unwatchable.

Alien 3 (1992)

Oh stop whining!

[17 January 2024]

Boo hoo, all the poorly done by too precious writers and directors "they didn't let me do it the way i wanted to... snivel snivel", all the fanboys "they should have done a different story"... "they shouldn't have killed off Newt and Hicks"... "they should have had more guns and explosions"... Good grief, what a bunch of sooks. Welcome to the real world where the rest of us live where very few get an unlimited budget to do whatever we want with no interference from management. How about reviewing the actual film on its own merit? How good is Charles Dance! I remembered this performance the moment I saw him in GOT. Sigourney is excellent and a far more nuanced actor in a more challenging role than the first two instalments. The gothic mood is excellent. Sure the plot device of Ripley washing up on the beach after crashing is a teensy tiny bit far fetched, but they needed a way to get her Character into the story, you do a little eye role and immediately let it go as the story moves on. All the alternative screenplays that excluded Ripley and were not made would have been waaaaaay less satisfying. I bought the box set with the extended length versions and watch them through every couple of years. By far the weakest, most annoying and unnecessary character in the entire series is Bill Pullman's endless whining in Aliens. For me, Alien3 is a relief after the oh-so-obvious "shoot-em-up" action and Newt squealing/Pullman whining of Aliens - a storyline that wrote itself but such disappointing execution. They could have gone any number of directions in this third instalment, if all you critics could just get over yourselves and accept that this is the direction chosen for this instalment, maybe you could appreciate it for what it is. If you want a setup for another mindless action film with lots of guns and explosions, go watch any of the thousand available in that genre... or Transformers. There are endless opportunities for future instalments without Ripley, why the hell would you want to go that way when Sigourney is still available and physically capable of playing the lead role? Any idiot can wear the costume and we'll be enjoying Alien sequels and spinoffs forever.

Golden Rendezvous (1977)

Just cannot help themselves

[1/10 · 28 December 2023]

Here we go again, Hollywood ruins another story... and with such smug, self satisfied arrogance. This is as shabby and cringeworthy a piece of butchery of a simple plot as anyone could hope to achieve.

Why do these arrogant hollywood types buy the rights to a story and then change every character and the story itself? Damned good question.

Was it necessary for adaptation to screen? Not at all.

And was it successful? No, it was not.

Does this stop these dlckhead know-it-alls from doing it again in the future? Unfortunately not.

That's just Hollywood.

This is a hopeless, boring and unentertaining adaptation of a simple and engaging Alistair Maclean novel. The likeable characters in the novel are recast as . Thoroughly unlikeable, uninteresting one-dimensional posers in the film.

A maddeningly, frustratingly unentertaining tooth-grinding boor.

Thanks a lot Hollywood. You ruined it.

Deadwood (2004–2006)

Watched again in 2023. Still brilliant.

[10/10 · 12 November 2023]

Just re-watched in 2023 after years. The brilliance of Ian Mcshane and Brad Dourif's performances as Al and the Doc continue to shine incandescently.

This remains in my top three shows of all time and casts heavy shade over the ordinariness of the streaming era dross that we trawl through in the vain hope of finding something of genuine quality.

The secondary characters are so well written and so consistent, and the stories of all are engaging. There is no filler and no worthless, disinteresting meandering. It all moves along seamlessly.

If you don't mind occasional swearing, if you rated Yellowstone, give this a watch to experience real quality.

The Mentalist: The Red Mile (2011) Season 3, Episode 18

The Dr Steiner episode

[10/10 · 5 September 2023]

The byplay between Jane and Dr Steiner is really something. Both characters are played brilliantly, the finale is brilliant storytelling, casting, production, soundtrack and acting.

This episode again showcases the casting of Baker in the lead role, he can play the cheeky fool with his brilliant smile, but his capacity to show vulnerability and utterly believable grief and sadness... bravo. I am watching the series through again and am just blown away by his craft and his total commitment to the role. I don't know how he landed this role nor who else was considered, but i cannot think of any other actor who could have been cast or could have possibly made such a success of this role. Brilliant.

Reacher (2022– )

Zero tension, hilariously sanitised for wholesome family entertainment

[5/10 · 24 March 2023]

Funny stuff. They've cast a young metrosexual, always freshly shaved, waxed of body hair with a designer haircut freshly waxed and combed to play a character who travels only with a toothbrush and wears the same set of clothes until they are too dirty and disheveled before binning them and buying a replacement set. I'm familiar with the books and the character. I get that they have cast a younger guy for the role in the hope that they'll be making this show for a decade and can stick with the same actor. But its soooo neat and clean. The sets, the characters, and Reacher. It's like they've all just stepped out of the laundromat and a hairdresser. There is no dirt, no grit, not even in the prison. Unfortunately they've also spent the entire first series introducing Reacher and focused on the clichés of the central characters from the novels at the expense of the plot, and the storyline becomes progressively less interesting and more predictable. It's so hilariously sanitised for wholesome family entertainment whilst pretending to be "edgy" through the inclusion of an absurd sociopathic bad guy character. But they have at least addressed fundamental flaws in the Tom Cruise fiasco... the new actor is physically enormous, and is not utterly humourless. Thank goodness. IMO they have deliberately adapted the tone of the Reacher character too far the other way, trying to make him a bit of a likeable clown for mass appeal. For me, there are just way too many unnecessary changes to the story and the entire mood is wrong. I didn't find it suspenseful, and by mid season i was already bored with the entire thing and put it down for three months before returning to force myself to watch the last three episodes with the lowest of expectations. I'm sure the producers consider it to be edgy having shown the aftermath of the baddies kills, and inclusion of Reacher fight scenes but that was not my experience. It was all too neat and clean and tidy and overly long and just... boring. Way too much time on bit characters that we will never see again because Reacher always moves on. This was just filler to pad out episodes. The story needs to progress at greater pace with less padding. This could have easily been at least 2 episodes shorter and still told the story in a more compelling way that actually built some tension. Ill give them one more chance in the hope that they can improve for season 2. But I'll be done if it opens with a perfectly groomed, freshly ironed Reacher and the pretence that anyone could be this neat and tidy stepping off an overnight bus... please. And Reacher, can you please stride when you walk? These little baby steps make you look like you are hiding a carrot. Come on champ, stride like a man. A huge and confident man... just as the character is written.

The Walking Dead: Warning Signs (2018) Season 9, Episode 3

Why do walkers lose interest in a fresh kill?

[24 March 2023]

If walkers/zombies are so single minded, why does the show rely on walkers losing interest in feeding on a fresh kill? Why would they not be single minded on feeding is that is their singular motivation? Why do 4 walkers lose interest in consuming the freshly killed human at the beginning of this episode - there is nothing else to distract or take their attention, but the plot for this episode relies on them just losing interest in feeding and wandering off, for no reason.... leaving an in-tact, recognisable human body to turn and be... recognised. And this is the plot device upon which this entire episode is constructed. Good grief, you writers are giving me the shlts.

The Walking Dead: Do Not Send Us Astray (2018) Season 8, Episode 13

Stupid sub plots and ridiculous battles

[1/10 · 23 March 2023]

So now, season 8, the writers make an issue of contaminated weapons? It hasn't been an issue for the knives, sheaths and arrows that have been used and reused for 7 1/2 seasons, but now it's a contamination infection risk? An infection risk that can be weaponised? Shut up you massive tools. This has been suspension of disbelief for the entire show and now the writers want to make an issue of it? Piss right off off. And these endless shoot-em-up scenes are just being dragged on and on. At Hilltop they ambushed the Negan attackers in an overlapping field of fire kill zones AGAIN, and fired and fired on them with automatic rifles... but somehow almost all of the Negan group escaped. But not before the Negan attackers started firing contaminated arrows back at them the most bizarrely silent moment (silent because all gunfire magically ceased for a few moments). This BS is just dragging out this "Negan war", it just goes on and on endlessly and has become totally ridiculous, boring crapfest. This entire Negan farce is based on Negan lieutenants compromising the tax arrangements made by Negan with the communities, effectively pushing those communities past the point of rebellion as their only option. So the entire plotline is total crap from the start. Then we get this endless agonising "Oh we can't kill them", not even the tax collectors who were directly responsible for, and who revelled in committing brutality and murder during those collections... this episode was the final straw for me. This is the "jump the shark" episode for this show.

The Condemned (2007)

B-grade, predictably ultra-violent. Not horrible, but totally humourless

[20 March 2023]

Watched this on a streaming service out of curiosity to see how Stone Cold played on film. It's a simple role with simple dialogue - he's fine, he's not overacting. The running would have been more taxing than the dialogue. Vinnie Jones carries the film, playing a mad eyed maniac... again. Predictably, all the bad guys are killed and against all odds the hard-done-by, unfairly treated, honourable Stone Cold is the last man standing. So it's a similar plot as the wrestling formula. I don't want to talk about the plot, which shows ultra-violence in a storyline that pretends to take issue with the televising of ultra-violence. Funny stuff.

I think these tough guys go wrong when they play tough guy characters who show no joy and are totally humourless. The Rock works on film in part because because he has that big cheesy grin and plays characters who show some good humour. Bautista worked because his Guardians character was deliberately written for the audience to laugh at his relentlessly humourless tough guy character who was completely lacking any self awareness. And now they are hollywood stars. By contrast, all we see in The Condemned is the same character that wrestling fans can see every week at the wrestling... in better choreographed fights against worthy villains with better costumes and much better lighting. Simple plots with not one ounce of thought required. Why would wrestling fans bother to go watch Stone Cold at the movies?

Glass Onion (2022)

Very enjoyable. The second instalment is better for the addition of humour

[20 March 2023]

Surpasses the first instalment through the addition of humour. The writers are clearly more comfortable with this medium and genre to add a smattering of humour. I hope this does well enough commercially that more instalments follow, it feels like Agatha Christie set in the modern world with worldly writers. The way Covid and masks were addressed and resolved was so perfect. Wardrobe is brilliant, Daniel Craig's seersucker swimsuit is brilliant, but the wonderful outfits for the women steal the show. Benoit Blanc is gifted a truly brilliant line of dialogue: "Its a dangerous thing to mistake speaking without thought with speaking the truth, don't you think.". I cannot be sure the line is "with" or "for" speaking the truth, but the lone is excellent and his polite and sincere delivery appeared to leave Birdy uncertain if it wasn't meant as a compliment. I thought Edward Norton and Kate Hudson in particular were perfectly cast, and portrayed their roles beautifully. As with Plummer in the first instalment - a proper actor was required for Norton's role. A very enjoyable movie.

The Boys (2019– )

What an entertaining gem. Well written, well cast, well made.

[8/10 · 20 March 2023]

What a gem. Well done to everyone involved in making this show. Such a welcome relief from serious, self congratulatory superhero movies. Inspired casting of Anthony Starr (Homelander) and Dominique McElligott (Queen Maeve). Starr gives Homelander enough menace and enough mania in his eyes to make the character. McElligott gives Queen Maeve the pathos, strength and vulnerability to make the character. I came to this when 2 full seasons were available and watched both seasons over a weekend. I had ignored this before reading a review and realising this was a different take on the entire superhero genre. Thoroughly enjoyed the first two seasons, looking forward to the next season.

The Last of Us (2023– )

Easy to watch, it all feels familiar after TWD

[20 March 2023]

As good as anything on TV at the moment. Reminds me of the first couple of seasons of The Walking Dead, easy to fall into this genre without too much exposition because audiences are so familiar with TWD. Simpler because it's only two central characters rather than a group. The lead characters have their share of inexplicable good luck and incompetence of challengers... but hey, that's showbiz. Inspired casting to team up two GOT actors, and who isn't happy to watch Pedro (Joel). He has a great range and is once again believable in the lead role. I can't help wonder what a great role Ellie would have been for Maisie Williams (Arya), but maybe age was a factor in casting. Anyway, this is easy to watch, pacing is maybe just a little slow - but not problematic. There is nothing that makes me want to switch off. The trouble they will have is making/releasing subsequent seasons quickly enough to retain attention. Let's see what the writers can bring to keep this interesting. This was the issue with Ozark, Better Call Saul, Mentalist (particularly in Australia where release of new seasons were delayed due to rights issues), and many other shows. What worked for some shows is making more episodes per season, meaning less gap between each annual release. The biggest issues I had were all in the final episode 9. Joel's remarkable recovery from his deathbed... Ellie noisily dropping the ladder and Joel failing to lift the ladder back up behind them to protect their rear were all inexplicable. Having the Doctor and Fireflies leap to sacrificing Ellie as the ONLY possible option was ridiculous (ie. Let's not bother to try synthesising a treatment from Ellie's blood first - let's just chop out her brain as Option A). Having Joel then morph into John Wick was bizarre... but maybe that mass body count speaks to the US audience?? I counted 16 kills (including the hilariously written doctor) which seemed to be an unnecessarily high body count. Finally, i don't understand why they can't readily find a functional vehicle and siphon fuel to keep it running to get to their destination, apparently they can at the very end of episode 9? Anyway, minor quibbles - but I hope the writers will not continue to rely upon such dubious plot devices to rescue our lead characters.

The Americans (2013–2018)

Engaging but parts are hilariously unrealistic

[19 March 2023]

Ive finally watched this in 2022 and stuck with it all the way through. The show is engaging and well made.

My gripes are few and were not enough to turn me off the show.

The biggest issue is the ridiculously obvious wigs, particularly on Kerri Russell who regularly looks like she is wearing a mob. How is she in bed with an asset wearing a cleaning mop with her hair tied up underneath and no-one notices? Ever? The wigs are so ridiculous it is beyond belief and is intrusive for the viewer.

I understand it is episodic TV, but the workload demands on these two agents is laughable. Mathew has a second wife AND they run a business AND they are recruiting and training assets AND there is a new, time critical mission every week AND they live across the road from an FBI agent AND they are parents with two teenagers and do all the housework AND the Centre turns down pretty much every request whilst relentlessly demanding additional tasks be performed AND they develop their own spy photos in their dark room and are endlessly out all night on missions and sleep deprived. Bull-shlt. Total bull-shlt. And for all that, still one of the better shows of the last decade with masterful performances by the two lead actors.

I notice when Olaf transfers back to Moscow, suddenly we have a lot more Russian spoken and a lot more subtitles, and some subtitles are too lengthy and not shown for sufficient time. It makes viewing a lot more effort, and means you cannot cook or make a cuppa or shave while watching. I didn't think it would make such a difference... but it does. Look at his workload in Moscow by comparison. Is noone noticing the contrast in expectation of realistic workload... and he is not undercover.

Paige is weak as an actor playing a very weak role. The character is joyless and I don't remember a single smile throughout the show except when she was at youth group. The writers provide her character with no girlfriends and this character is ridiculously implausible and thinly drawn. By the third season I was fast forwarding through her scenes and Father Tim sub plot... I understand why they have the teenage family drama, but it is way to day-time soap opera that is of no interest.

Vikings (2013–2020)

Crappy attempted accents and half hearted raiding

[12 January 2023]

The vikings give up on raiding after about 5 minutes and too many of the actors attempts at the accent are intrusively crap. Rollo is more than a single character shoehorned into one as a lazy, lazy plot device... and now he's back from being tortured, and now he's back from being trampled to death by horses, and now he's back from betraying his brother and killing his friends, and now he is back from wasting years as a drunken bum... and he is once again the healthiest and strongest viking ever, and the wisest uncle... As for our lead character and hero, he takes the title of Earl but none of the responsibilities, he takes the title of King but none of the responsibilities. Pisses off overseas and leaves the kingdom to be run by... autopilot?? It is laughable. And the costumes are great, and the (stylised) battle scenes are entertaining, and it is a shame that this is about as good as television shows get.

Morbius (2022)

Stop whining and tell a story

[25 December 2022]

Seriously.

An entire movie about exposition instead of entertainment.

Who edited this?

What a total cock up.

Get someone else in to edit the dailies into an entertaining movie.

What a wasted opportunity. You've spent the money, you have the footage, you forgot to engage the audience in a compelling story.

Boo hoo agonise over a really, really basic ethical dilemma for... the entire fracking movie.

More interested in the sequel setup than an engaging story.

Boring, boo hoo agonising over and over. Just tell a fracking story without 2.5 hours of agonising over justification for a non existent antihero.

Give Morbius a purpose other than sooking over his existence. Boring, boring, boring.

Unthinkable (2010)

Piss poor final third goes nowhere

[14 December 2022]

The ending is forced and ridiculous. The story is left unfinished and leaves me feeling like my time has been wasted. I understand this was supposed to immerse the viewer in the decision making process, to ask "what would I do" or "what would I condone under these extreme circumstance". Notionally the tension and pressure is supposed to increase as the deadline approaches... but the utterly ridiculous setting off of the booby trap ends all of the tension because it is utterly ridiculous.

This pathetic Dukes of Hazard / Black List level plot device that relies entirely on absolute incompetence of the authorities is embarrassing. My only regret is that I didn't walk out then and there. The story goes nowhere from that point.

Enough already, they had an idea but only half a story. I have no issue with the acting, my issue is with whoever greenlit production based on this script.

Murder, My Sweet (1944)

So overrated, a piss poor adaptation

[1/10 · 9 December 2022]

I sought this out after reading reviews claiming this to be "the best" screen adaptation of Chandler's classic novel.

It is not. It is total rubbish. The plot is changed to become nonsensical. The Moose Malloy sub plot has been completely ruined. It's become a series of vignettes inside set rooms on the lot with endless entering and exiting of doors to open and close each scene. The best performers are the hats.

Thus is a total dud.

Those rating this are kidding you, they don't mean it - it's just fashionable to jump on the bandwagon and claim "this is superior to the Bogart movie".

It is not a better movie. It is a woeful adaptation of the Chandler novel.

This is crap.

The Batman (2022)

How many batman movies do we need?

[3 December 2022]

Another one?

I ignored everything about this and Eventually watched this on streaming service in Dec 2022.

First i checked IMBD and was really surprised to see both the budget and the opening US weekend and global earnings for this and I am astonished.

$200m budget, $138m opening weekend box office in US and over $700m global earnings.

How is this possible?

How many batman movies can be made?

Affleck's Justice league AFTER Nolan/Bale's Dark Knight trilogy, waaay after the cheesy prior instalments.

Will the market ever get tired of Batman movies?

This one has done well enough at the box office to spawn another... But I don't understand how this will work.

Are the justice league movies done, or just finished with Affleck?

Anyway, back to this movie.

It's just boring. You can only watch so many versions of the origin story, and so many directors deliver batman "noir", "gothic" mood.

If this was the first, i would have thought this was goo.

But I've now had my fill.

Locke & Key (2020–2022)

Horrible, just not quite as horrible as some.

[28 November 2022]

How many times can characters start a conversation/scene with "Is everything Ok"... Season 2, episodes 6 and 7 is where this becomes unwatchable.

The modern condition is that there is so much content made for the streaming services, and soooo much of it is soooo ordinary, and they try to pump out more of anything that is moderately popular as quickly as possible to maintain interest.

The problem with this is that the the quality of the writing is horrible.

"Is everything Ok"... No, its not.

The writing and dialogue and acting are all poor from the outset, but the story gets moving quickly and that's how to grab audience attention in the streaming service age.

But the second season rush job on the writing is horrid. The dialogue and characters become so ridiculous that I had to bail out of this series and switched off-walked away with no regret. Not quite true, my actual regret is that the general quality of shows has become so bad that I was willing to watch so much of this before walking away.

Quality has given way to quantity to the point that even this show was better than most of the available alternatives.

And this is horrible.

But it does go to show that pretty much anyone can be a TV show actor if they really want it.

The Losers (I) (2010)

Predictable cliche after derivative cliche

[5/10 · 24 November 2022]

Good grief, could they possibly shoehorn another cliche into this drivel.

Unless they were deliberately attempting a comedic spoof of previous movies... Sorry, but this is unwatchable drivel.

You look at the cast and wonder how it read on the page to attract their interest in this project.

The story, the dialogue, the plot, it is all horrible and soooooooo predictable.

I watched on Netflix and couldn't get to the end.

That scene with the umbrella on the beach... just pathetic.

How did this make the final cut?

Was this supposed to be comedic? It didn't even make sense because now he has no shade - so it was counterproductive and stupid.

Did you think the audience didn't already understand this character?

The writer and director should have their cards marked "never employ again".

The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself (2022)

Starts fast, but who cast this?

[7 November 2022]

The pacing is great, this rollicks along from the very beginning.

But who cast the young male lead?

It didn't occur to you to cast an actor who can read and speak?

This intrudes on the storytelling over and again and is a huge frustration... and I'm not yet finished the first episode.

And is it not possible for this character to speak up for himself, not even once to say "he is bullying me and baiting me, yes he did hit me first - the very first time I met him at the party he hit me with zero provocation".

This is so poorly written. Why does this character have to be presented as such a dullard, and then "ping" when he does eventually respond he is decisive and fearless.

I'm cranky that my optimism for something worth watching is disappointed before the first episode is done.

You're spending the money, why not make something worth watching?

Wild Target (2010)

How do you spell that?

[8/10 · 5 August 2022]

Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt are both excellent. Nighy's facial expressions are gold, he would have been brilliant in silent movies.

"How do you spell that" is brilliant line delivered perfectly. I laughed and laughed.

Designated Survivor (2016–2019)

Jingoistic BS, i couldn't get through season 1

[1/10 · 3 July 2022]

This is rubbish from the start.

I'm reading these reviews saying the first two seasons are good, but that is not my experience.

There is not a single scene that isn't interrupted by a person or phone call introducing another crisis that requires the immediate crisis to be put on hold.

The writers want you to believe that pretty much everyone in Washington is selfless and noble and rational:

• except for the General who is the commanding officer of the Michigan National Guard... who decides to ignore chain of command at a time when the USA is under threat... why?

• and except for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who also decides to overrule a direct order from his Commander in Chief, in the process dishonouring his direct commitment given only hours before to his Commander in Chief.

• and the writers want us to accept that the safety of an individual soldier would ever be put ahead of the security of the entire Republic, and that a zero-collateral-damage target is un-actionable at a time when the Republic is under attack because there MAY be a CHANCE that a single US operative COULD potentially be in harms way? Bull Sheet.

Under what circumstance would the Governors want to block election of a new Congress? Under what circumstance could the governors of every state agree on anything EXCEPT reestablishment of a functional government?

It's just layer of BS on layer of BS on layer of BS, with too many shots of bureaucrats walking purposefully down corridors.

Where is the hierarchy of staff in the white house? Where is the engagement of the JCOS except in the war room?

Where are the daily security briefings... the rest of the world didn't just stop.

Why is the President of "never had any diplomacy or foreign affairs experience" directly back-channelling the release of a US national with Russia and Saudi Arabia? And why does that become the immediate priority at that time?

And can you really control the FBI by kidnapping the child of the Director?

Utterly ridiculous from the very beginning.

Those saying the first season or the first 2 seasons are good but that is gets silly in the third season... I cannot believe we are watching the same show.

This show makes the West Wing look breathtakingly good.