Do you wanna see Idris Elba chase down a sadistic serial killer? If you do, then Luther: The Fallen Sun is exactly the movie for you.
On the other hand, if you don’t, then please stay away. Because this is the kind of movie where what you see is what you get.
Following on from the fifth season of the eponymous crime series, John Luther is confronted with a formidable opponent.
The movie - written by creator Neil Cross and directed by Jamie Payne- never hides the fact that this ultimate bad guy, David Robey, is played by Andy Serkis, whose hairdo is as horrible as his actions.
Robey is a wily city trader with (apparently) hundreds of minions at his disposal finding dirt on everybody and everyone.
So when Luther promises Corinne (Hattie Morahan) to find her son, who seems to have vanished from the face of the earth, Robey makes sure that the detective is disgraced and sent to prison.
Only for Luther to break out, mad as hell in a masterful escape scene, and restart the investigation, all on his own, because after all: ‘I’m still a copper.’
This not only pits him against Robey, but also against his (former) superiors, DCI Schenk (Dermot Crowley) and DCI Raine (Cynthia Erivo). So it’s one man… against the world?!
Well, not really, his methods may be unusual but the police can’t really solve the case without their Luther either.
The production of this feature feels a lot bigger than the series, in fact it is as big as the plot is implausible, but there is always the presence of Idris Elba, who is as comforting as he is menacing.
Advance warning: there’s a fair amount of gruesome scenes, but I was fine with it. A highpoint is a brilliant scene staged in Piccadilly Circus, which shows just how dangerous Robey is.
Not everything in the movie is that good. Luther: The Fallen Sun will never be considered a genre classic like Silence of the Lambs or S7ven, in the end it’s closer in spirit to the Saw-movies.
Thematically it’s about cruelty and shame and metaphorically it’s a journey into the heart of darkness.
And yes, the movie absolutely delivers what it promises. You get the thrills and the kills, and to be fair, the spills too. The money is definitely on the screen and Netflix no doubt have a new hit film franchise on their hands.
A preposterous, unbelievable & really bad piece of film! Elba is much better than this crap!