Idris Elba is back in his best role
In 2012 Idris Elba won a Golden Globe for her performance in the series Luther. If the actor has had many other outstanding roles, both in The cable, Pacific Rim or in the recent Three thousand years await youthe London policeman is the one who gets on his skin, even if the trader and entrepreneur Stringer Bell is a strong competitor.
John Luther is a down-on-his-luck cop who goes by his own methods to achieve justice, which earns him many – sometimes legitimate – suspicions about his integrity. A protagonist with multiple cracks and therefore deeply human, endowed with an almost superheroic ability to act be able to detect the good or the bad in each of his interlocutors. Despite her instincts and his intelligence, the cop is arrested at the end of the fifth season, after the final confrontation with his nemesis Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson).
It is therefore behind bars that the hero finds himself at the beginning of Luther: Fallen sun, after a brief contextualization that allowed newbies to settle for the film. And while his personal story takes a slight back seat in this feature film written by series creator Neil Cross and directed by Jamie Payne, the pleasure of finding it again is intact. Once again, John Luther is on a tightrope but obviously hasn’t lost any of his talent about him. He’ll need it desperately to corner a formidable assassin.
A new sadistic enemy for Luther
The antagonist of the thriller is revealed from the first minutes. Interpreted by Andy Serkis, who has never been so terrifying, this killer is a voyeur who enjoys identifying the flaws of his future victims to blackmail them, before executing them with a sadism that equals or even surpasses that of the worst villains in the series. His particularly cruel stagings accentuate the morbid atmosphere that has always constituted the identity of the programme, with which the dullness of London blends perfectly.
Added to this is the frightening incarnation of Andy Serkis, his hallucinated looks, his demonic laughter and his eccentric look. Luther faces a wealthy monster who destroys lives for pleasure, even finding legitimacy in his acts of torture. The other strong point of the relationship between the hero and the assassin is the desire of the latter to humiliate the policeman after escaping his now-legendary instinct.
Impressive scenes, but no risk taking
Their confrontation leads to several impressive scenes, starting with an ultra-violent climax in Piccadilly Circus, where the sometimes dangerous special effects fortunately don’t spoil the tension. The ambition to go beyond the series, to offer exciting twists using the English capital, its arteries and its underground, is fully felt in this moment of great success. A sequence that reaches Luther’s over-choreographed, failed escapewhere the blows are not heard and everything seems easy for the protagonist.
This is also the main problem of Luther: The fallen sun. Whether he’s surrounded by thugs who want his skin, facing one of his best opponents or pursued by Odette Raine’s (underused Cynthia Erivo) brigade, the ex-cop never really seems to fight in the film. . His superheroic dimension is clearly assumed in the finale where Luther, still dressed in his famous gray jacket, moves away from the alleys of London to embrace a more “prestigious” destiny.
What marks the evolution between the series and the feature film which, if it sometimes fails in its attempt to take on a spectacular dimension, efficiency never fails and owes much to the charisma of Idris Elba.
Luther: The fallen sun East available on Netflix.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
