Change Your Image
apexis
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Mr Inbetween (2018)
Mr. POINTLESS
Really thrown by all the highly positive reviews. While it's not an inherently terrible show, it's not particularly anything special either. In fact this show can be best summed up as POINTLESS.
I just watched the entire first season and like some of the other critical reviews have stated, by the third episode I found myself checking and scrolling through my phone. The production value is pretty decent and it's shot fairly well, I have no complaints there, but what my biggest issue with the show is there doesn't seem to be an actual plot to the entire series. In fact the writing is kind of all over the place. Things just kinda happen and there is no build up. We just get plopped right in and there's no explanation or elaboration...as I stated before, it's completely pointless.
We watch the "protagonist" Ray go about his daily life, sharing custody of his daughter, trying to get back into the dating scene, and looking out for his best friend, Gary...like really looking out for him and going the extra mile for him too. Why? We don't know. There is never any backstory given for their friendship, but it's clearly a rock solid one since Ray is willing to dismember Gary's scumbag brother-in-law for him with a simple text message request for "HELQ."
What's Ray's most basic motivations or desires? We don't know. What does he want to accomplish in his life? We don't know. What will his character arc be? We don't know. And we don't know because we are never told anything...moreover what is the plot? We, once again, don't know! What is the problem or dilemma? WE DON'T KNOW! Who is the antagonist??? WE DON'T F'N KNOW!!! Sure there were some funny bits here and there, but it's such an absurdly pointless show!!!
Doing a bit of light research I see this series was inspired/a continuation of Scott Ryan's prior work "The Magician" which is a mockumentary about the same hit man character, Ray. I'm assuming this series follows in the same vain, so if the main point of the show is to watch him go about his daily, mostly mundane, routine then mission accomplished. If you're looking for a basic narrative or decent writing that tells a story with a clear thought out plan then you won't find it here. The last episode of the first season takes the cake though with it relying heavily on coincidences and hypothetical scenarios to work out perfectly in Ray's favor...and lo and behold it does!!!
I'm actually shocked to see this show was picked up by FX and has earned 3...yes, THREE SEASONS. With a show as pointless as this it should have been a one and done. I certainly won't be sticking around to see how the rest of the seasons pan out. It'd be pointless to do so.
My final rating 3/10.
Maybe I'm being a bit too harsh with the score, but it's bewildering to see so many 8s and 9s out there that I need to try to even the score out. Also this show should be renamed "Mr. POINTLESS."
Too Old to Die Young (2019)
Visually stunning, but by and large an insult to the viewer's time and intellect
Let me preface that I am not a blind follower of the Winding Refn cult. That being said though, I do appreciate his neon-drenched cinematography and his unrelenting and uncompromising, bold vision. I really respect a director who is willing to go out there and make his or her mark on their work. It's really admirable in my opinion, but if your vision becomes so niche that it turns off the majority of the audience then perhaps you're not that great of a storyteller after all...
Unfortunately for Refn, I feel that each subsequent work he produces: "Drive", "Only God Forgives", "Neon Demon", and now "Too Old to Die Young", his ambitions crumble over his hugely inflated ego. Movies are a form of storytelling and when your work fails to tell a coherent or interesting story and places more emphasis on style over substance then you're going to alienate the majority of what little audience you have left.
I'm gonna skip the criticism on the overindulgent and unnecessary long panning shots that conveyed nothing and ultimately wasted the audience's precious time (since this has been brought up in almost everyone else's review), instead I'm gonna focus on the story aspect of "Too Old to Die Young"...or more accurately, the LACK of story.
Let's see...we are presented numerous characters...ALL of which are unlikable. That's your first problem right there. One of the basics of storytelling is being able to have a central character the audience is able to relate to and rally behind. We get none of that from the supposed protagonist, Martin. In fact, we don't get much of anything from him with his absurdly wooden, dry persona. Flawed characters are interesting and potentially likeable if they have a redeeming arc, but we really get none of that. He's a corrupt cop and terrible human-being in the beginning and by the end he's no longer a cop, but still a terrible human-being...except he's dead now also. Wow, what a journey!
There were a couple of times where I thought "Oh wow, finally the story is going to get interesting" when Martin unexpectedly kills his girlfriend's father and when the female police detective begins investigating the father's disappearance and ultimately learns that Martin has been engaging in something highly illegal by having a relationship with an underage teenager...but NOPE, toss that all aside immediately. Any potential interesting story beats are quickly disposed of in lieu of indulgent and borderline homoerotic sequences of Jesus being pegged by his girlfriend/"mother" and more long panning shots of nothing happening!
Was it all bad? No. I will applaud the opening sequence of episode 5 with the gay, rape casting couch. Refn's raw and unfiltered depiction of that disturbing scene was terrific and I wish he focused more of his efforts on crafting a compelling and unsettling story than just giving us morsels of it. Now it makes total sense why episodes 4 and 5 were the ones they submitted for screening at Cannes because even THEY KNEW the entire series contained nothing of great value and those two episodes were the closest things they had to an actual story. Also I have to give it up to the composer Cliff Martinez, who gives us another solid electronica-infused brooding score.
In closing this is a SKIP. There were some redeeming moments in the show, but it was by and large a waste of the viewer's time and intellect. It makes sense that Amazon didn't spend much time advertising this as they knew it was DOA. Ultimately I don't believe Refn is big enough or well-known enough to be this pretentious with his films. If he wants to continue doing these long-panning, over-glamorized shots he should seriously consider getting into fashion shoots only and stay out of narrative filmmaking. And If his ultimate goal is to make finding work for himself in Hollywood much more difficult then he has certainly accomplished that with this 13-hour misfire. Refn should rename this series to a more apt title...I suggest "Too Pretentious to Make a Good Series."
Finally score: 6 out of 10. (It would be lower if not for Martinez's score and the beautiful cinematography.)