Luther with Idris Elba: Does the Netflix movie live up to the series?

What is it about?

Plagued by an unsolved murder, London police officer John Luther escapes from prison in search of a vicious serial killer.

Luther: Fallen Sun, written by Neil Cross and directed by Jamie Payne with Idris Elba, Cynthia Erivo, Andy Serkis, Dermot Crowley…

Semi-Lutheran Final…

As soon as it hit our small screens in 2010, Luther captivated audiences with the magnetic presence and tormenting psychology of its protagonist, its dark tone making it an adrenaline-pumping thriller. The antagonistic duo of John Luther – with Idris Elba in his best role since The Wire – and Alice Morgan – the brilliant Ruth Wilson – also did a lot to keep fans hooked in the early seasons.

Then the series slowly fell apart. In Alice Morgan’s absence, creator Neil Cross chose to make her hero go through the nine circles of hell and become a superhuman with a sacrificial destiny. The magic didn’t really work anymore. Even the return of Alice Morgan last season couldn’t revive the series on the emotional roller coaster we knew from the beginning.

Therefore, we have the right to question ourselves before we start again the chaotic life of this colossus that last appeared with feet of clay. Can Luther: Fallen Sun make up for its past mistakes?

The answer is (almost) yes! The feature film takes you from the first minutes to a psychological thriller that grabs you and doesn’t let you go until the end. The film opens like an episode of Black Mirror. A young man, Caleb, works nights cleaning empty offices. Then he gets mysterious and threatening: “Meet me back here in 15 minutes…or everyone will get screenshotsTerrified that his mother and girlfriend might see something he’s ashamed of, he runs out of the building in a panic.

It is raining heavily when he reaches his destination. The car is parked in the middle of the road. A person lies on the ground, motionless. Despite the emergency he faces, he stops and calls for help. Leaning over the inert body, he turns towards the passenger in the car… but he gets up lying on the pavement and grabs him from behind. Caleb disappears.

The next day, the police surround the car and begin an investigation. This is where Chief Inspector John Luther enters the scene, who is shocked to learn that the passenger in the car is a corpse from years ago that has thawed… It is there that we meet the characteristic dark and supernatural side of the series. Neil Cross has this special gift for telling sick and crazy stories.

Next we meet cyber terrorist and serial killer David Robbie (Andy Serkis, who we’d love to see in disguise). I will not tell you more about the horror that comes from his imagination and inflicts on innocent victims. Except that it starts a wave of terror through the internet and the media.

As Luther prepares to follow him, Robbie finds him isolated and imprisoned for all the “detours” Luther has committed in recent years. Still, there’s no doubt that Luther would hunt this man down to the ends of the earth if necessary. Four walls, bars, and a prison full of nasty jojos ready to eat him raw won’t change his resolve one iota.

Luther: Fallen sun, so it’s a game of cat and mouse for over two hours. But who is the cat? And who is the mouse? Nothing will be simple and easy for Luther, especially since he has made another new enemy in the form of Odette Raine (Cynthia Erivo), who has regained her position after being fired from the police force.

… half James Bondian

Idris Elba finally finds this role, a character suited to his talent in a career that doesn’t do him justice. To see him like this, monumental in his eternal woolen coat worn like a cape, magnetic screen eating, devilishly intelligent with his piercing gaze and also his flaws that make him terribly human is admirable.

Neil Cross signs this script to her as a declaration of love. Jamie Payne’s direction gives her all the space she needs to express herself. The crowd scenes are well coordinated and the action scenes well choreographed. The film then shifts to James Bond as the story moves to a place surrounded by winter cold and an icy pool reveals terrifying images.

This is by no means a thinly disguised audition set up to slip Idris Elba into Agent 007’s tuxedo. The actor has already said it clearly enough.

But this is where the film finds its limits. If we love watching Andy Serkis play bad guys (with a blow-dry in a very showy ’80s wig), he’s trying to convince us here. The film will be transferred to the series of villains that we really believe. Like the one from season five wearing a clown mask and shooting people with a nail gun.

Falling Sun then takes on an almost superheroic dimension in its treatment of Luther’s character, seen in a shot on the roof of a building contemplating London. His territory, his city. Are you thinking of Batman? That’s a little. It doesn’t work entirely within this super episode, sort of an extension of the parent series. But too bad, we don’t get to enjoy this movie, which, if it’s not really successful, opens up other boundaries for Idris Elba. She has broad enough shoulders to portray a character of this size.