I’m actually grateful for the unstoppable spigot of new television shows. Certainly not all are good or worth your time. I skip over reality series (because there is nothing farther from reality than the lowest common denominator that many of these shows aim for) and most romance, horror and science fiction. Give me a good thriller or a comedy and I’m purring like a kitten.
It’s a relief that television is picking up the pace as features slowed almost to a standstill in the early spring. In the lead off position:
“Man on Fire” is the hottest series I’ve seen in a long time. Based on the A.J. Quinnell novel, “Man on Fire” was most recently seen in 2004 as a film starring Denzel Washington. The material is still compelling and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is an outstanding lead as John Creasy, the mercenary out for revenge.
Creasy, a former special ops at the top of his field, is now a shadow of his former self, suffering from extreme PTSD after the massive failure of one of his operations where his whole team was wiped out. It’s all he can think of, it’s all he sees, it’s taken over his whole life. Best friend and former colleague Paul Rayburn is determined to bring him back into the fold and thinks he has the perfect job. Rayburn has been hired by the President of Brazil and his Security Chief to find a leak within his operation. President Carmo is facing a tough re-election fight and he must neutralize the enemies within his operation. Rayburn has assured him that he can do that, especially with the help of the very reluctant Creasy. Getting back into the field is exactly what Creasy needs and he’ll be working alongside his best friend.
Creasy hardly looks ready but when disaster strikes Rayburn’s family, Creasy rises to the challenge with an unstoppable determination to protect Poe Rayburn, the eldest daughter in the family who was a witness to the mass slaughter perpetrated by a gang of criminals. His journey will take him across the beaches of Rio and into the Favelas where he will use everything in his arsenal to avenge the deaths of his friends, along with many many others killed in the same incident. Creasy’s determination, wiles and fighting power make him a man on fire.
The fight scenes are brilliantly choreographed, the violence is organic to the plot, the use of Rio as a location, from its wealthy suburbs to its overpopulated Favelas, the hillsides of shacks on top of shacks, sets a fearsome tone of haves and have nots all leading inexorably to the political corruption that started this avalanche of retribution on its path to Armageddon.
The quickly paced direction is fueled by the crisp writing of Kyle Killen who developed this series for television. The cinematography of Paula Huidobro and Alejandro Martinez makes perfect use of the Brazilian locations, both the beauty and the ugliness that highlights the class warfare endemic to the area. Using both Brazilian and American actors, “Man on Fire” is truly a work of international scope.
A remarkably subdued and highly effective Bobby Cannavale, as Creasy’s best friend and colleague, sets the plot on its trajectory. Billie Boullet as his daughter Poe is the damsel in distress, protected at all costs, and there will be costs, by Creasy. Alice Braga, an international star from Brazil, becomes part of Creasy’s ragtag team. But it is the extraordinary Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as John Creasy who owns this show. He is darkness and light combined in such a way that a glow positively reverberates off him. He must go from tender to vicious and back to protective and suspicious without a break. That he does all this and more is amazing. It is impossible to take your eyes off him and he seems to be in every scene, the lead of every plot point. Killen has written characters with depth but Abdul-Mateen exceeds what’s on the page.
The seven episodes fly by, demanding that you binge but begging you to give each one some time to sink in. They are terrifying, thrilling, mysterious and politically prescient. You don’t want to miss this one.
Now streaming on Netflix in Portuguese and English with subtitles.
“Big Mistakes” is a comedy filled with slapstick and mystery and even an occasional thrill. From the warped minds of Dan Levy and Rachel Sennott, “Big Mistakes” is a family comedy, highly dysfunctional but still family. Mom, Linda, has decided to run for mayor in their sleepy little town. Favorite daughter Natalie is running her campaign, which is fine with siblings Nicky and Morgan. Nicky is the pastor at the local church. Although accepting that Nicky is gay, they would be less so if they knew he was in a relationship. Nicky is basically a good guy with one foot in the closet and the other out, which leaves him precariously off balance. Morgan is completely directionless. Her job is meaningless and her relationship with her fiancé has her bored speechless. Out with Nicky and always looking for a cheap thrill, she shoplifts what she thinks is a cheap necklace at the local convenience store. Horrified, Nicky is speechless but Morgan has a perfectly good rationalization. Grandma, recently deceased, loved bling and this would be perfect for her to wear as she enters the hereafter.
But Morgan misjudged her target because the “cheap” necklace wasn’t inexpensive. The necklace was actually the property of a local gangster and he wants it back or else. But grandma’s already dead and buried. Enlisting Nicky’s help, they dig up the grave, not without complications and missteps, to retrieve said jewelry. Returning it to the kingpin, they are dismayed to learn that they are now indebted to him and must run his errands, from payoffs to deliveries. And this is where the hijinks begin as life spirals out of control for both of them while mom, oblivious to them, tries to recoup from one mistake after another in her campaign.
Levy has given himself the plum role of the gay minister and exhibits the kind of hysteria and anxiety that was the trademark of Gene Wilder. Taylor Ortega’s Morgan is spot on as a young woman who knows the right choice and always makes the other. Her seemingly dead eyes sparkle with mischief, often at the expense of those around her. Laurie Metcalf is Linda and a joy to watch as she misses cues and clues and narcissistically soldiers on. Elizabeth Perkins has a small but not insignificant role as a town business leader leaning toward Linda’s candidacy even though she’s committed to Linda’s rival.
The humor is sly and the characters are well drawn. Even as the story starts leaning to the absurd, which is most of the time, it will still hold you as you smile at the mayhem.
Now streaming on Netflix
“Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair” and unfortunately not very interesting. Rebooting “Malcolm in the Middle” after all these years wasn’t necessarily a bad idea. It could have been fun to find out where Malcolm, the family outlier, landed. Using all the original actors, although a few siblings were added because Lois and Hal continued to be frisky, the concept was intriguing. Malcolm, now grown and running a non-profit after his Harvard education led him to self-sufficiency, has a teenage daughter, Leah, the result of a one night stand in college. A single parent, he has tried hard to shelter her from the hardships in life, one of which is his family. She believes that her grandparents had died long ago and Malcolm has been able to sustain this lie because he stays as far away from them as possible. He hasn’t been to a family celebration or holiday dinner in 20 years. But all good things must come to an end and Lois has decided that Malcolm will definitely appear for the 40th anniversary party that she’s planning.
Yes, they’re crazy but they are loving and Malcolm has denied his daughter the chance to make up her own mind. As is utterly predictable, Leah discovers her grandparents and uncles and finds a way to bring everyone together. Each member is the grown version of what they were on their way to becoming. Reese is an instigator, still consumed by what everyone else has that he doesn’t; Dewey is a cipher; and Francis is a soon-to-be father. Lois still rules the roost and Hal follows along, although consumed by the fear that people don’t view him as “nice.”
Everything is forced, from the characterizations to what passes for humor, and the plot of these four episodes is very thin. Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston are very fine actors when given something to work with. Here they just mug for the camera and project at the top of their lungs. It’s not that revisiting these characters many years later wouldn’t have been interesting, but this was clearly a case of trying to force a really large genie back into a very small bottle.
Now streaming on Disney+
Neely Swanson spent most of her professional career in the television industry, almost all of it working for David E. Kelley. In her last full-time position as Executive Vice President of Development, she reviewed writer submissions and targeted content for adaptation. As she has often said, she did book reports for a living. For several years she was a freelance writer for “Written By,” the magazine of the WGA West, and was adjunct faculty at USC in the writing division of the School of Cinematic Arts. Neely has been writing film and television reviews for the “Easy Reader” for more than 10 years. Her past reviews can be read on Rotten Tomatoes where she is a tomatometer-approved critic.
