True Story Series Review: A Blend Of Drama And Comedy That Is Entertaining Thanks To Healthy Doses Of Action

Starring: Kevin Hart, Wesley Snipes, Tawny Newsome

Director: Stephen Williams

Streaming Platform: Netflix (watch from here)

Filmyhype Ratings: 3/5 (three star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

You know a person and you think you know everything about her: her ambitions, her problems, where she grew up and what she believes in. There is a part within each of us that is reserved and dark, of which perhaps you are not proud, and you delude yourself that you can also know that little ravine in the mind of the subject that you have frequented for a lifetime. That little corner, however, is only illuminated when the situation is extreme, when you find yourself back to the wall having to make a decision that will make the difference between life and death. When this happens you may discover something that perhaps it would have been better not to see.

Kevin Hart and Wesley Snipes are the protagonists of True Story; a story that will see them fall into a suffocating vortex of murders and cover-ups, forced to huddle in brotherhood to save their lives and those of those they love. The series written by Eric Newman – the successful producer and also the author of several episodes of Narcos: Mexico joins the Netflix titles of November 2021 and consists of seven chapters that manage the rhythm of a dramatic narrative well, without however hiding a subtle and intelligent comic streak.

True Story Series Review: The Story

True Story takes us into the life of The Kid (Kevin Hart), a famous comedian who fills the stadiums and arenas of America, is a guest of Ellen DeGeneris and achieved fame with the sci-fi blockbuster Anti-Verse. In short, the life of the actor could not be better. But that will all change when he returns to his hometown of Philadelphia. Ahead of the upcoming show, Kid reunites with his older brother Carlton (Wesley Snipes), a complicated man the comedian has always had to look after. Carlton is a person who cannot stay out of trouble, between bankrupt restaurants and bad investments, his account is always in the red. And it will be from this forced reunion that the whole past of the two brothers will come back to the surface.Between murders and blackmail, Kid will try to keep what he has earned over the years: money and success. To make his life complicated will be added the divorce with his wife, an overly suffocating bodyguard and a mentally unstable fan.

The ways to success are endless, like the possibility that everything could collapse in an instant for a bad scoop or a misstep. Kid knows it well, who after a good night finds himself with the dead body of a girl in bed. What to do, what are the right steps to take so that your career does not fall apart? His saving angel will be that magnet for Carlton’s troubles. The solutions that the two will find will lead them to face new problems, until it all adds up in a catastrophe. Between Greek mobsters, an oppressive press and a busy schedule, the situation for the actor will become unbearable and he will gradually take more and more questionable choices. True Story, the real story that will be told to the media and to oneself, will be a fictitious reality: the real story for whom? This is the incipit of the Netflix series, which on paper could lead to excellent implications and interesting interactions.

The plot of True Story revolves around the relationship between the two main brothers: a relationship of sincere love, sometimes toxic, based on their difficult past and on the absolute will to defend each other against everything and everyone. A dull but always credible brotherhood, just as all the twists and turns of a real and concise script are plausible, which flows away remaining enjoyable from the first to the last minute. The main result of this streamlined and well-grounded narrative is to identify the viewer with the protagonists on the screen, making the story fascinating but sacrificing the big twists that often make this kind of plots stand out.

The unexpected turns are in fact only two in the arc of the whole series, and they are characterized by finding themselves at opposite poles on the scale of surprise. The last one, at the end of the sixth episode, is built well but is all too predictable, leaving a bit of dissatisfaction on him fortunately canceled by a tense and frenetic final episode. The first twist instead, almost at the end of the pilot, falls like a bolt from the blue and gives a sense of dismay and excitement. Until that moment the narrative had a vague hint of already seen, despite the goodness of the writing, but a single scene changes the cards on the table, sparking interest.

The Review and Analysis

The dialogues and situations of the Netflix series are in fact sewn on the two main actors, Hart and Snipes, and their co-stars Tawny Newsome and William Catlett. A cast made up largely of African American actors, who focus strongly on physicality rather than on the rhythm of the acting, resulting in any case adequate and well-suited to their respective parts. Wesley Snipes is undoubtedly the best of those present, his interpretation of a complicated and difficult to frame Carlton is excellent, while Hart struggles to fill a role far removed from the characters he has learned to juggle in recent years.

Kid is the protagonist and the reflective moments of the show are dedicated to him, and unfortunately Kevin Hart does not shine in these, but he is indisputable in the robustness of the few and dense action scenes. The brothers, like the twists we talked about earlier, are therefore distinguished by charm and general success. Writing is the best value of True Story from the dialogues to the characterization of the characters, but the Netflix series also defends itself well from the directorial point of view thanks to the immediacy returned by the many shots with a fixed camera alternating with the dynamism of long trolleys.

The action scenes have a good rhythm and the actors help to restore a physicality that makes it all believable. The game of continuous references to other Netflix shows and the winks at the cinecomic controversy are also very nice: small details that always keep the viewer’s attention alive, breaking the predictability of a plot that in its probable being is a cross and a delight.

True Story Review: The Last Words

True Story stands out for a plausible and interesting narrative, written for the use of an African American cast that manages to give a good physical push to the script. A well-dressed Wesley Snipes compensates for an undecided Kevin Hart in the role of a thinking protagonist, but perfect when he finds his comfort zone of action and dynamism. The plot has its best value in reliability but also its worst flaw: always remaining credible, in fact, it manages to capture the viewer’s attention but falls into the predictability of some twists that fail to affect.