Watched it in one sitting. It was that good. Story plot is on the whole engaging, entertaining, believable in spite of minor plot holes typical of epic trans-national spy dramas. Plenty of spy thriller clichés, balanced out by refreshing directing style.
High production and artistic value is evident immediately. A grand romantic cinematic visual feasts. Fabulous location shoots, Egypt, Swiss Alps or breathtaking Spanish resorts. Impeccable art direction, aerial angles, shadow screens or neck tie detailing. Expect plenty of Bond/ Pulp Fiction tropes throughout, with generous exotic Mediterranean spices toppings.
The story builds fast and pacing is well executed and story momentum is nicely modulated through out the whole series. Episode 2 has a HUGE Flash Back Scrambling issue (too clever time jump within time jump within time jump). Still, the anti-immersion was quickly saved by good acting and overall subtle yet lethal directorial voice, so no biggie...
Greatest strength: the lead actors. The dramatic tension between Laurie's superbly rendered villain Ruper and Hiddleton's Pine alone is worth the time investment. Laurie is a master of nuance, Hiddleton, definitely has range.
Biggest weakness is shallow character depth (not sure which party novelist/ screenwriter/ director/ producer is responsible). What kind of heroic knight REPEATEDLY failed to delay gratifying himself with some unavailable, UNSTABLE females when on a mega high stake mission? Like, hello, move on from James Bond 1975 already? Seriously LOL even a drunk Justin Bieber has more self-control!
Key females are still a variation on the Virgin:Whore dichotomy: the too-earnest frumpy grumpy work-for-nothing worker bees, or the high maintenance destructive-but-conveniently-horny "queen bee damsel whores". Colman did her best but (to quote Gemma Chan) no Academy winner can possibly out-act boobs. Honestly the female roles are so throwaway cliché any random mom-sy or booby-parade actresses would do.
What is surprisingly good - is the moral tone, and how it is weaved into the dialogue and scene framing without whacking the audience on the head. The courage to shine a non-rose-tinted torch on systemic rot within "respectable" spy organizations, how the war machine functions across borders, how apathetic public servants and callous capitalists impact humanity. It's not another mommy queen's good little servant James Bond with expensive ridiculous weapon toy packs including Viagra or sexy romp-ready private jets. It is about little individual Goliaths in the system, a 'mere' night manager, who could still CHOOSE to do the right thing or sell out every step of the way, even when the rot seems so pervasive and enemy so big and invincible.
A 'mass destruction' merchandise demonstration scene set in the desert was particular mind-blowing in every sense of the word. Never seen 'war-ish' scene done like this before. Good job director, art director, editor, vfx people.
Really liking the mini-series format too, which gives the audience more time to immerse themselves into the scene, a epic scope story world like this one, and make some emotional connection - even with relatively shallow characters.
A 9 overall. + 1 for conviction: so rare to have a genuine moral conviction trope dominating the 3000% overdone overused revenge trope. Bravo on that.
The Night Manager is a very watchable, intelligent spy drama deserved to be produced and experienced. Highly recommended to all intelligent people out there.
High production and artistic value is evident immediately. A grand romantic cinematic visual feasts. Fabulous location shoots, Egypt, Swiss Alps or breathtaking Spanish resorts. Impeccable art direction, aerial angles, shadow screens or neck tie detailing. Expect plenty of Bond/ Pulp Fiction tropes throughout, with generous exotic Mediterranean spices toppings.
The story builds fast and pacing is well executed and story momentum is nicely modulated through out the whole series. Episode 2 has a HUGE Flash Back Scrambling issue (too clever time jump within time jump within time jump). Still, the anti-immersion was quickly saved by good acting and overall subtle yet lethal directorial voice, so no biggie...
Greatest strength: the lead actors. The dramatic tension between Laurie's superbly rendered villain Ruper and Hiddleton's Pine alone is worth the time investment. Laurie is a master of nuance, Hiddleton, definitely has range.
Biggest weakness is shallow character depth (not sure which party novelist/ screenwriter/ director/ producer is responsible). What kind of heroic knight REPEATEDLY failed to delay gratifying himself with some unavailable, UNSTABLE females when on a mega high stake mission? Like, hello, move on from James Bond 1975 already? Seriously LOL even a drunk Justin Bieber has more self-control!
Key females are still a variation on the Virgin:Whore dichotomy: the too-earnest frumpy grumpy work-for-nothing worker bees, or the high maintenance destructive-but-conveniently-horny "queen bee damsel whores". Colman did her best but (to quote Gemma Chan) no Academy winner can possibly out-act boobs. Honestly the female roles are so throwaway cliché any random mom-sy or booby-parade actresses would do.
What is surprisingly good - is the moral tone, and how it is weaved into the dialogue and scene framing without whacking the audience on the head. The courage to shine a non-rose-tinted torch on systemic rot within "respectable" spy organizations, how the war machine functions across borders, how apathetic public servants and callous capitalists impact humanity. It's not another mommy queen's good little servant James Bond with expensive ridiculous weapon toy packs including Viagra or sexy romp-ready private jets. It is about little individual Goliaths in the system, a 'mere' night manager, who could still CHOOSE to do the right thing or sell out every step of the way, even when the rot seems so pervasive and enemy so big and invincible.
A 'mass destruction' merchandise demonstration scene set in the desert was particular mind-blowing in every sense of the word. Never seen 'war-ish' scene done like this before. Good job director, art director, editor, vfx people.
Really liking the mini-series format too, which gives the audience more time to immerse themselves into the scene, a epic scope story world like this one, and make some emotional connection - even with relatively shallow characters.
A 9 overall. + 1 for conviction: so rare to have a genuine moral conviction trope dominating the 3000% overdone overused revenge trope. Bravo on that.
The Night Manager is a very watchable, intelligent spy drama deserved to be produced and experienced. Highly recommended to all intelligent people out there.