Luther: The Fallen Sun Review: The Direction Offers Us A Breathtaking And Sublime View Of The Natural Scenery | Filmyhype

Cast: Idris Elba, Cynthia Erivo, Dermot Crowley, Andy Serkis, Thomas Coombes, Hattie Morahan

Director: Jamie Payne

Streaming Platform: Netflix

Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Starting March 10, a new original film starring Idris Elba is available on Netflix. Luther: The Fallen Sun fits into the crime and action genre, with dark and sometimes crude tones. The film is directed by Jamie Payne, with a screenplay by Neil Cross. The latter is also the creator of the TV series from which the film originated and of which it is the continuation. Indeed, the general public already knows the figure of John Luther (Idris Elba), a very talented inspector who sometimes struggles to control his impulsiveness. The TV series has 5 seasons and ended in 2019: now all its episodes are available on Netflix. The platform recommends the film to an adult audience, classifying it as +16, due to some violent and emotionally impactful scenes.

A few years after playing drug trafficker Stringer Bell in the acclaimed American series The Wire, the English actor Idris Elba has returned to his homeland and passed on the other side of the fence in the role of John Luther, a brilliant but tormented London policeman, obsessed with work and unable to leave behind the sordid side of humanity that he witnesses daily. A great success for the BBC (and on Netflix internationally), the series aired at more or less regular intervals from 2010 to 2019, with repeated announcements about a possible film, now finally made possible thanks to the streaming giant (but in England, it was also released in a handful of theaters two weeks before its debut on the platform). A particularly brutal case, which we talk about in our review of Luther: The Fallen Sun.

Luther: The Fallen Sun Review: The Story Plot

The young Callum Aldrich is kidnapped by David Robey, a London businessman and ruthless serial killer who uses the web to discover the secrets of his victims and blackmail them before killing them. John Luther investigates the case, which worries Robey, given the reputation of the policeman, and so he finds a way to have him arrested and imprisoned for various offenses committed on duty over the years. The killer then starts making fun of the relatives of his multiple victims and also provokes Luther into delivering a recording of one of the murders. The ex-cop must find a way to escape and neutralize Robey once and for all, but it won’t be easy since in the eyes of the police, and in particular of the new head of his old unit, Odette Raine, also by now he is a criminal…

Among the BBC’s British detective series, Luther stands out for several peculiar traits that have made it recognizable and always consistent. First of all the absolute centrality of the character of John Luther, with Idris Elba who focuses all the attention on himself with his load of torments, loneliness, courage, and spirit of rebellion. Always true to himself, the problematic hero even dresses in the usual way, with a tweed coat, gray shirt, and burgundy tie. Over the course of the five seasons, Luther comes across some recurring characters with whom a fervent confrontation arises, such as the psychopathic killer Alice Morgan, played by Ruth Wilson, who weaves a passionate relationship with the detective, and partner Justin Ripley, with whom the talented Warren Brown gives life, killed in the penultimate episode of the third season.

In Luther: The Fallen Sun, the psychology of John Luther becomes a secondary ingredient. Unlike the series, the film concentrates the action in a limited time frame trying to please both fans of the TV series and new viewers. The solution, for Neil Cross, is to focus on the action by setting aside the psychological subtext. Assisted by the syncopated direction of Jamie Payne, the screenwriter builds spectacular action scenes dominated by a cruel and ambiguous serial killer, made even more gruesome by the performance of Andy Serkis. As in the case of John Luther, however, two hours and more of film do not clearly explain the reasons behind his killing spree if not summarily.

Luther: The Fallen Sun Review and Analysis

Luther: The Fallen Sun is certainly a successful thriller. The film is full of adrenaline-charged action scenes, thus managing to keep the audience’s attention high in its two-hour running time. Idris Elba confirms a convincing and cutting interpretation of the character, with which after five seasons he is very familiar. John Luther is marked by the experience of prison and his past always seems ready to attack him from behind. Hence, his character takes on an even darker tinge. Alongside the infallible detective instinct, which he cannot give up even after having laid down his badge, we are not surprised to see the more violent and impulsive side of him emerge. Among the most impactful scenes from the point of view of suspense, we can certainly mention the one in which Luther fights against the heinous cyber killer who persecutes him on the London underground rails.

Indeed, the setting helps to provide a sense of claustrophobia and the fast editing makes the clash between the two particularly suspended. Just the villain of the film is one of the greatest strengths. Andy Serkis, plays the brutal and sadistic killer in an excellent way, managing to instill fear with his mere presence on stage. The character is built with cunning and skill. His dangerousness is expressed not only by his ruthless actions but also by the psychological and physical effects that the other protagonists reflect. His wife is perhaps the most unforgivable victim. The woman appears completely burned for having tried to hinder the killer’s delusional plans and she lives in fear of generating a violent reaction from her again, even just by talking to or helping Luther.

This makes the enemy’s ruthlessness clear from the beginning of the film, preparing a crescendo that will then culminate with truly raw scenes. Andy Serkis’ character David Robey brings a fresh twist to Luther: The Fallen Sun, which otherwise does not differ much from the series. As already mentioned, the antagonist is a cyber killer who blackmails his victims, threatening to reveal to them dark secrets tracked down through the web. In one of the key scenes, he broadcasts a series of tortures inflicted on Luther and the policewoman Odette Raine by video call to a large audience: in the face of this terrifying vision, the spectators gasp, as if in front of a film, eager to see the developments. The film presents a perverse and extreme interpretation of technology, which nevertheless highlights the deepest fears related to the diffusion of technology.

The Internet becomes an important witness of human consciousness, unable to forget any mistakes. Through the web, perpetrators can see without being seen. David Robey perhaps appears so fearsome because it represents – albeit in an extreme way – the dark side of technology, with which one can find oneself dealing firsthand. The film manages to transport the audience into the tense and mysterious atmosphere of the TV series, in dark and brutal London. On the one hand, the idea of ​​harmoniously taking up the original story and creating a sort of nostalgia effect is a winning choice. Fans of the TV series are intrigued and engaged by Luther: The Fallen Sun, having anxiously awaited the return of the beloved character of Idris Elba and the other protagonists, following the end of the fifth season.

On the other hand, however, the film is not aimed solely at the loyal audience of the series: the plot develops linearly and credibly, forming an independent story in which John Luther’s personality manages to emerge quite fully. Net of the participation of Serkis and some more ambitious sequences (that of Piccadilly Circus above all), it is difficult to shake off the inkling of a longer episode of the television series, and not only of the direction of Jamie Payne that comes from the show and it doesn’t stamp the film with a particularly different identity. Assuming that the film is aimed above all at fans of the character, creator, and screenwriter Neil Cross does nothing to accommodate newbies, slinging Luther in the middle of a new case, ordinary business with no real footholds for those approaching the vision without knowing the previous investigations.

In doing so, he makes use above all of the charisma of the actors, in particular of Elba who can now play Luther even with his eyes closed, but that is not enough when the plot begins to leak already in the first minutes, sacrificing the psychological realism of the five seasons of the series in the name of narrative megalomania which, for a change, has something algorithmic in the construction of the vicissitudes and the contamination of other illustrious names in the context of the genre (the final part almost seems to come out of a novel by Jo Nesbø). The real investigation is another: what happened to the spirit of the original series?

Luther: The Fallen Sun Review: The Last Words

Finally, we point out a scene in which Jamie Payne’s talent appears particularly evident. This is the final sequence of the film, which departs from chaotic London to bring Luther to a frozen tundra. This location symbolizes the deeply savage soul of Luther: The Fallen Sun, in all his rawness and honesty. The direction offers us a breathtaking and sublime view of the natural scenery, closing the film worthily, not without leaving some glimmers open for a possible sequel.