Reviews

I really enjoyed the first two seasons, giving them a pass on the idiocy of their main characters who constantly manage to place themselves or others in peril.

Then, Season 3. What a huge disappointment. Huge.

Most of the characters began behaving totally out of character, the story line was bizarre to say the least, and finally: the hero emerged. Nicolas was the hero, showing his brilliance...and then? Chasing a lunatic woman made no sense. And where was his gun? The one he pulled at the beginning of the last episode? That seems to be missing, and he - a tall, strong man - fights with a small, crazy woman. Idiotic script. It ruined the entire series when they did this was Nicolas. It was so disappointing. And so unnecessary.

We could have done without the Greek Tragedy ending. It wiped clean all the good things about the episodes before. We were sorry we bothered.

As a writer myself, I tend to pull punches when discussing the script, especially if i find fault, but this time I have to take exception. In general, those of us who love great movies, especially thrillers, are pretty bright. The biggest fault I have here is the way the script spoon fed lines and telegraphed SIGNIFICANT clues as well as red herrings. In the film, it is all about the details.

The scenes of the memories are always significant are supposed to be giving all of us clues, and we - the audience - are watching along with Jackman and the others to try and figure out pertinent facts. So we are all on the edge of our seats, soaking in the details, and we don't need the actors to speak the obvious. The scene has WAY more impact if you just let it happen without showing it to us and then TELLING us what happened, after we have watched the scene and made our own conclusions.

I don't want to be specific as I don't like to add spoilers but in this case, I will mention one specific scene (there are dozens of lines like this throughout the film which is why I am giving this such a low rating. I can overlook one or two boo-boos but it happens so much throughout I believe it had to almost be intentional by the writer.)

In this scene, as it is playing out, a character drops her earring, looking back at the bldg, and when Hugh Jackman picks it up (as he is watching the memory play out) he actually audibly says "The earring. She wanted me to find it." Like it is some huge revelation. We just saw the scene and we KNOW she dropped it on purpose for him to find it. We don't need him to now say it as if we, are too stupid to grasp that. It is annoying and condescending. And the script is FULL of lines like that.

So, as an escape, as a fun 2-hr diversion, it was ok, but it is definitely not a movie I would ever watch a second time, or many times, something I love to do when the script is brilliant.

One reviewer said to stream it or wait for cable. I agree. It was definitely not worth blowing one of my AMC movie credits on. It was not worth even the price of my concessions.

The screenplay (dialogue) is simplistic, and the technical errors are vast. Just one example: the scar across Hester's face is such an obvious mistake. If someone is cut across the face when they are a child, that scar will shrink when their body is full grown. That was such an obvious boo-boo it was hard to overlook.

The acting is probably some of the worst I have seen, but the dialogue was so bad I guess it was hard to make much of the scenes.

The worst was Hester, especially in the beginning of the movie. Her over acting and angry desperation It was so bad I now want to avoid any movie in the future with this actress in it.

It only got interesting when Hester was saved at the auction. That actress that saved her is fantastic.

Overall, it was a total waste of my AMC stub ticket.