A Murder at the End of the World Review: Star Rating:
Cast: Emma Corrin, Harris Dickinson, Brit Marling, Alice Braga, Joan Chen, and Clive Owen.
Creator: Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij
Director: Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij
Streaming On: Hulu
Language: English
Runtime: 7 Episodes, Around 1 hour each
A Murder at the End of the World Review: What’s It About:
Brit Marling has become one of the most creative and unique creators on television. During the last ten years, we have delivered some of the most fascinating series and films in recent memory. So, it becomes quite a delight to see her coming back with A Murder at the End of the World, a limited series on Hulu, inspired by the works of Agatha Christie and other mystery authors but with a twist, which in this opportunity is adding Marling’s style which often can fall into the “slow-burn” territory.
A Murder at the End of the World Review: Script Analysis:
Marling has always been characterized by her dream-like demeanor, which often leaks into her creative work. Marling and her content collaborator, Zal Batmanglij, have managed to create powerful and unique shows such as The OA on Netflix and films like The East and The Sound of My Voice. Each of these projects has a quality that can now be traced to these two creators and how they do things. So, when A Murder at the End of the World was described as a murder mystery, we could already see that this would not be conventional.
A Murder at the End of the World doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel when it comes to the murder-mystery genre; in fact, what the show is doing right here could be taken as just another adaptation, a revision, or even a modern remake of “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christy, with our main character serving as a new vision of Hercule Poirot. However, while the main focus of the plot is solving the mystery of the murder, the show also takes its time to give us one of the best romance stories of 2023.
The series divides itself into two timelines, which means we are following two series at the same time, only connected by our main character, Darby Hart, a young woman who has become obsessed with solving abandoned disappearance cases and who also ends up trapped solving the murder in the other timeline. The timeline set in the past focuses on Darby’s relationship with Bill, another kindred soul that will soon become Darby’s love life.
Meanwhile, the timeline set in the present deals with the consequences of the past and ties in many other themes, such as AI, the rise of billionaire celebrities, corruption, and control. All these themes are worked to some degree, and while a couple of ones are left in the air, most of them get a proper final answer to their dilemmas. These answers are primarily emotional, but they ring true, even if they are cheesy for some people.
A Murder at the End of the World Review: Star Performance:
While the plot is an essential element in a murder mystery, it is the story that the audience will follow and luckily care about in the end, and the characters and their choices create the account. A Murder at the End of the World presents such feelings, and while many characters are introduced at the beginning of the show, only four are essential because these four only, are the ones that develop both the plot and the themes.
Emma Corrin, who plays the character of Darby, is the driving force of the show, without a doubt. The young actress has managed to create quite a fantastic body of work in a very short time, and here, this is her show; not even Marling or Clive Owen, who also have important roles, can match her. Harris Dickinson, another young actor on the rise, also kills it in the part of Bill Farrah. These main actors are young and new, but the series truly showcases their talent and potential.
Trending
A Murder at the End of the World Review: Direction & Music:
Marling and Batmanglij share directorial duties throughout the season, but they know how to maintain a constant style between them at this point in their careers. The result is that A Murder at the End of the World is a gorgeous show, with scenes that deliver a calculated pace and shots showing exactly what they intend to do. The cinematography work done by Charlotte Bruus Christensen is just superb. It helps sell the setting and the atmosphere, although some production details make the cold ground seem fake.
The score by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans is also a standout, as it elevates the mysterious atmosphere the show is trying to sell while also carrying a sense of danger as the characters move through the hallways of the ice hotel they live in. There are also a couple of needle drops here and there, and they are an excellent way to make this world look closer to ours than it appears to be.
A Murder at the End of the World Review: Last Words:
A Murder at the End of the World is not perfect by any means; the show just throws too many characters around that end up being useless, and while the resolution is quite satisfying and makes sense, it might hurt the feelings of many audience members out there as the subject where the answer comes from is quite controversial. Nevertheless, the acting is fantastic, with Corrin and Dickinson proving their talent again.
Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube | Google News
The post A Murder At The End Of The World Review: Slick Mystery Series That Combines Classic Agatha Christie Structure With Fears Of Present appeared first on Koimoi.
from Koimoi https://ift.tt/P0j5EQq
0 Comments