I watched the first 3 episodes, after which I couldn't bear wasting time any longer. The first episode is decent enough, the rest are increasingly slow, as the story gets dragged into nonsense. Benjamin Bratt and Rosario Dawson are fine actors, but the scenario borders on stupidity. The premise is that NYC is split into several factions that are at war with each other, and a woman looking for her son manages to outwit the gang leaders who seek their own agenda. As an involuntary consequence of trying to win over her estranged son, this woman saves the ordinary people from their own greed, violence, and stupidity in only a few days. If that doesn't seem implausible to you, consider this. A woman in NYC personally knows 2 gang leaders: one is her ex, the other a close co-worker and friend (what are the odds of this happening?!). The woman had been seeking her son for 6 years, but once in the DMZ zone she finds him in 1 day. In a war zone where surviving is incredibly difficult, besides finding her son, this woman manages to re-connect with the 2 leaders, befriend a 3rd leader, "adopt" a kid, help at a clinic,win an election - all of this and more in only 4 days, while fighting for her life. If this story seems believable to you, I have a bridge to sell you.
85 Reviews
Definitely nothing like the comic
kurtisbeacroft21 March 2022
This is not a 1 score, neither is it a 10 score. Its just a lazy, badly put together, forgetable trudge through a DMZ that is unrecognizable from the original comic. I gave up after the 2nd episode because I had absolutely no interest in seeing anymore or it.
Unfortunately, not worth my time.
sheki18 March 2022
I barely made it through the first episode.
My opinion is that it's not gritty enough for the setting that it proposes and story isn't very compelling. I had higher hopes for an HBO production. They should have put the money for this into more seasons of Raised by Wolves. :P.
My opinion is that it's not gritty enough for the setting that it proposes and story isn't very compelling. I had higher hopes for an HBO production. They should have put the money for this into more seasons of Raised by Wolves. :P.
Disappointing to say the least.
bosporan17 March 2022
Future dystopia, action, Rosario Dawson - what is not to like? A broken post-war place where everybody is cheery, clean, well dressed and well fed. The camera work is sunny and bright, wardrobe colourful. No broken people. The action involves sitting around talking, moves on to some discussion and finishes with some dialogue. Dawson is given a hopeless script and does as well as anyone could.
A Little Slow
Maxax77720 March 2022
Nothing special
johnykbr18 March 2022
If you're a purist of the comic, this is definitely not for you. If you separate it from that, it's still not that great of a show. No particular actor or actress steps out to steal the spotlight. The directing of the first episode is horrible and jumps around too much to allow the viewer to understand what is happening. It gets marginally.better but it's been done before and done better.
It's just fine
kthornblom18 March 2022
It's a decent post apocalyptic tale, with good acting and good production value, but it strays too far from the source material. And while I'm not a purist, if you're gonna work within a narrative framework based on existing property comment try not to change the existing property completely.
No one says it has to be about Matty but Parco is a completely different Parco and Wilson is a completely different Wilson, so absent the names of characters and the basic core premise of the setting, it barely resembles DMZ as an adaption.
It's kind of Preacher all over again, but with less faith to the source material.
No one says it has to be about Matty but Parco is a completely different Parco and Wilson is a completely different Wilson, so absent the names of characters and the basic core premise of the setting, it barely resembles DMZ as an adaption.
It's kind of Preacher all over again, but with less faith to the source material.
Beautiful, full of culture and hope. Love and kindness in darkness
triforce326 March 2022
This was a nice show, a world with a full cast of characters to follow. Deep character driven, and most of all about having hope with a broken past. The love of a mother shown on full display. There are many flaws and great things about the show. It's truly up to you to watch but it's only 4 episodes so it's not a waste of time nor too short. I enjoyed it, pacing was right, music was attractive and the writing is average just for a watch.
Turf war, not civil war.
jwest49117 March 2022
The acting is OK. No stand-out performances, but none too terrible. The twists and character arcs are predictable.
Instead of focusing on the effects of civil war, it's a run-of-the-mill turf war that borders on racist stereotypes of gang communities. There's an election too, although the candidates are all violent kingpins preaching about unity while murdering dissidents, so it's difficult to really care.
Tonally it's a mess. In one scene the DMZ is portrayed as ruins torn apart by a decade of war, and in a subsequent scene you have vivid yellow colour grading and twenty-somethings barbecuing and drinking out of mason jars like it's Glastonbury festival. Everyone is clean, well-dressed, and happy. I really admire the costume design, but it's more suited to a catwalk than a war zone.
There's a very tone-deaf moment early on where Ortega is smiling in a happy hipster marketplace, chuckling over "people at their worst" - as if civil war isn't so bad as long as you can drink home brew at the vintage fair. Ten seconds later we're in a clinic watching a teen cough blood.
The cinematography is all over the place. A particularly heavy-handed shot is filmed upside down, because "Ortega's world has been turned upside down" and the only way to show this was by making viewers stand on their heads. The words "I don't want to be reminded" are scribbled on the wall of her old apartment building. My, how symbolic. Several close-up shots of a character's hands, and dialogue is repeated just in case you didn't realise it was important the first three times.
There's an almost comical over-reliance on lens flares, shaky-cam, and focus pulls. Action scenes are a blurry, jumpy mess of dutch angles. Each line of dialogue has its own shot, sometimes two. There's never more than a few seconds to focus on a character's emotions or reactions before cutting away.
And of course, there are plenty of inaccuracies and continuity errors. Little things like wounds requiring major surgery are miraculously healed with just some stitches and kind words. Dates on ID badges, Ortega's son's height chart, in dialogue and in promotional material don't quite add up. A gubernatorial election is held, glossing over issues like which federal union the governor belongs to. It just feels lazy.
Because, you know, there's a civil war. Apparently that's supposed to affect things.
Instead of focusing on the effects of civil war, it's a run-of-the-mill turf war that borders on racist stereotypes of gang communities. There's an election too, although the candidates are all violent kingpins preaching about unity while murdering dissidents, so it's difficult to really care.
Tonally it's a mess. In one scene the DMZ is portrayed as ruins torn apart by a decade of war, and in a subsequent scene you have vivid yellow colour grading and twenty-somethings barbecuing and drinking out of mason jars like it's Glastonbury festival. Everyone is clean, well-dressed, and happy. I really admire the costume design, but it's more suited to a catwalk than a war zone.
There's a very tone-deaf moment early on where Ortega is smiling in a happy hipster marketplace, chuckling over "people at their worst" - as if civil war isn't so bad as long as you can drink home brew at the vintage fair. Ten seconds later we're in a clinic watching a teen cough blood.
The cinematography is all over the place. A particularly heavy-handed shot is filmed upside down, because "Ortega's world has been turned upside down" and the only way to show this was by making viewers stand on their heads. The words "I don't want to be reminded" are scribbled on the wall of her old apartment building. My, how symbolic. Several close-up shots of a character's hands, and dialogue is repeated just in case you didn't realise it was important the first three times.
There's an almost comical over-reliance on lens flares, shaky-cam, and focus pulls. Action scenes are a blurry, jumpy mess of dutch angles. Each line of dialogue has its own shot, sometimes two. There's never more than a few seconds to focus on a character's emotions or reactions before cutting away.
And of course, there are plenty of inaccuracies and continuity errors. Little things like wounds requiring major surgery are miraculously healed with just some stitches and kind words. Dates on ID badges, Ortega's son's height chart, in dialogue and in promotional material don't quite add up. A gubernatorial election is held, glossing over issues like which federal union the governor belongs to. It just feels lazy.
Because, you know, there's a civil war. Apparently that's supposed to affect things.
A Mother's Love
rayraerenee17 March 2022
Not sure why people are hating on this. I really liked this look at a distopian future where a mother is trying to reunite with her son. It's a great take on what happens to the people in the middle of a war, those who were forgotten and abandoned. Give it a chance.
Not that bad.
kevinspranzo18 March 2022
It's not a bad miniseries to binge in a day. I don't agree with other reviews calling it "woke". Yes it doesn't feature caucasians as main roles, but also there is no agenda to the series. All around an average watch. If your like me and struggle finding something new, this is decent.
An attempt was made
toofancorp20 March 2022
The characters are so cringeworthy with their decisions and choices and just general demeanor. The story crawls at a snails pace and is filled with SO MUCH melodrama. Most of it isn't earned or built up to begin with to leave any impact. The editing and direction makes me want to vomit, there are so many cuts in a scene...cut to face, cut to other face, cut to handshake, cut to face again, cut to other face in like 10 seconds...It's extremely annoying. There is one big action scene in the 3rd episode that could have actually been cool, all the elements were there to make it cool, but you definitely could tell the person never shot action before and it was LAME. I'm being generous with a 5 because the actors all do fine work and are really giving it a 100% effort, the set pieces and world building were pretty cool as well. Disappointing.
So polished it hurts. Give the comic book a chance though.
pajapan17 March 2022
I remember reading the first few issues of the comic book many years ago.
I don't really remember what happened but I remember it being really good, which means that the creators of the show deviated a LOT from the original material.
Everything is so polished in this show and the way society formed in the DMV feels incredibly naive in a way that happens only on TV.
The writers definitely chose the wrong direction, the director definitely didn't have the budget to create the atmosphere of DMV, and the producers could not save the end result from looking lame no matter how much money they've decided to pay to add catchy hip hop songs post-production.
I don't really remember what happened but I remember it being really good, which means that the creators of the show deviated a LOT from the original material.
Everything is so polished in this show and the way society formed in the DMV feels incredibly naive in a way that happens only on TV.
The writers definitely chose the wrong direction, the director definitely didn't have the budget to create the atmosphere of DMV, and the producers could not save the end result from looking lame no matter how much money they've decided to pay to add catchy hip hop songs post-production.
It's not that bad!
annekgisvold13 September 2022
I started watching this show knowing that other reviewers seem to hate it. Honestly, I don't see what's so awful about it. Sure, it's not a 10/10 and it may be a bit slow sometimes. Or perhaps even strange... I'm not from the US, so can't quite comment on how "real" or not this show is (Hey, if you know who could be elected and then get to stay on as leader of the nation, how could this show be any more strange than reality?). And I don't watch dystopian TV shows because I want reality, anyway. I think this show deserves a lot more than a 1/10 score. I'm not comparing this show to a comic or anything else, nor do I think of what's possible or close to reality,,, I just don't think it's bad. In fact, I liked it. I wanted some fairly light entertainment and that's what I got. I would give it a 6 or a 7 out of 10. So I'm giving it a 7. I think this show was worth watching.
Comic book waaaaay better.
edwardeggers18 March 2022
Just like Y last man, this book ruined by Hollywood. It's watchable but we had to add love stories, lost love and a bunch of other BS. Why is it so hard to stick to the book? The book was so much deeper on the political view and what happened before the DMZ. That's the best part. Hopefully it gets better.
Needed more or less
brandonquarles1719 March 2022
72 issues of source material and the BEST you could do is 4 episodes?
ejl217919 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
So, it's "I Am Legend" without zombies, then cross it with "Escape From New York" but no Kurt Russell.
After waiting 8 years... EIGHT YEARS. She goes back to search for her son that she, in reality, abandoned. Did she expect him to be all Hallmark movie and run to hug her? Lol.
This miniseries is perfection for those with ADHD. You can get into it and be done before you lose interest. Except I was losing it in the forst 15 minutes of E1.
After waiting 8 years... EIGHT YEARS. She goes back to search for her son that she, in reality, abandoned. Did she expect him to be all Hallmark movie and run to hug her? Lol.
This miniseries is perfection for those with ADHD. You can get into it and be done before you lose interest. Except I was losing it in the forst 15 minutes of E1.
50/50 but plus for decent acting and world building
rakista28 March 2022
This is either being directed by committee, by someone who has never directed an action series before, or a combination of both.
Acting is generally above average, even good. Dialog is a bit cheesy in parts, but the actors carry enough scenes for you to overlook the unbelievable ones.
Editing is all over the place, and each episode flows different from the next. Needs a more coherent top end in directing and editing.
Worth a watch if you have binged all the old SyFy series beforehand, which is about the quality we are getting here.
Acting is generally above average, even good. Dialog is a bit cheesy in parts, but the actors carry enough scenes for you to overlook the unbelievable ones.
Editing is all over the place, and each episode flows different from the next. Needs a more coherent top end in directing and editing.
Worth a watch if you have binged all the old SyFy series beforehand, which is about the quality we are getting here.
Pure comedy
nbnhrnvph19 March 2022
Wild cheetah 10 feet from a little
boy and it just yawns and stretches. No running water, yet everyone has new & clean clothes. Cigarettes are easy to find. Free tacos and grilled cheese sandwiches are aplenty. Everyone is healthy, wearing jewelry, makeup, drinking alcohol and having a great time. Everyone even continues going to their local barber every Friday night to get a fresh fade, isn't the DMZ utopia wonderful. It's amazing Hollywood continues to put out trash like this...
Not sure why there are so many negative reviews
hoeuropa4 April 2022
It was a happy accident I found this show. I am glad I started watching it before I read the reviews on here. I thought it was a great story with great performances by Dawson, Lee and Bratt to name a few. I thought I would be disappointed with only 4 episodes. However, I was wrong. Exciting story from the first episode and closure without a bunch of unecessary scences or episodes. I don't agree with many comments I read. This is another dystopian show I thought i knew how it was going to go but it surprised me a bit and I appreciated that. Has some good music too. It's only 4 episodes, try it for yourself.
Escape from Sax 5th Ave in New York
david_simpson3346719 March 2022
For being a DMZ kill zone, buildings destroyed and no running water everyone is dressed to the nines with $500 sunglasses that aren't even scratched , fresh makeup and food trucks. None of it fits the premise of this story and not realistic at all. Not even close. Another flop by HBO.
evaporates
SnoopyStyle19 March 2022
There has been a second American Civil War and Manhattan is declared a demilitarized zone. Alma Ortego (Rosario Dawson) is a medic desperately searching for her missing son. She gets into the crosshairs of warlord Parco Delgado (Benjamin Bratt).
The pilot holds some intrigue as it reveals this world. I was hoping for more but it still promises certain things. When she escapes into the DMZ, the pursuing soldiers claim that she wouldn't survive long. It suggests a scary dystopian world of unimaginable horrors. What it turns out to be is a mix of The Warriors and Gotham without Batman. Episode three ends with the comic book charge by two sides in a melee. It's all very poor comic book and it does not surprise me to find that this is based on a comic book series. This is no Escape from New York. This show has a promising start and then it evaporates. I can't even finish the fourth episode.
The pilot holds some intrigue as it reveals this world. I was hoping for more but it still promises certain things. When she escapes into the DMZ, the pursuing soldiers claim that she wouldn't survive long. It suggests a scary dystopian world of unimaginable horrors. What it turns out to be is a mix of The Warriors and Gotham without Batman. Episode three ends with the comic book charge by two sides in a melee. It's all very poor comic book and it does not surprise me to find that this is based on a comic book series. This is no Escape from New York. This show has a promising start and then it evaporates. I can't even finish the fourth episode.
Ludicrous plot
HigHurtenflurst19 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
So we are to believe that a woman who is looking for her lost kid from 8 years ago finally goes back into the DMZ to look for him. By staggering coincidence she happens to have close ties to both of the main antagonists who are trying to become the governor of this place, and then her missing son now turns out to be the main feared killer in the DMZ, and his birth father is one of the main bad guys. And how is it that after 8 years the three hundred thousand or so inhabitants of this zone, with virtually no way in or out, are well supplied with food and basic goods? Given the way people are living, and the gangs that have been established, they all should have killed each other long ago. The melee scene is absurd - bladed weapons versus machine guns, yet at the end there are almost no corpses or blood on the pavement.
I
Headturner118 March 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I literally thought I was watching Aisha Tyler and Jimmy Smitt the whole serie. Lol. It started out ok but they shuld have delved deeper into why this happened and how it worked. I kept wondering how they got food etc. Why bother having the gold? How did they decide who lives where? There have been other shows with the same premise but I think they were also like that. SPOILERS
But the ridiculous thing is this masquerades as a post apocalyptic show only to be about a women who lost her son( never really knew him) and goes on a quest to win him back in her life. They literally could have made this any setting and in the end it would have been the same. It was ok but was hoping for a true apocalyptic show.
But the ridiculous thing is this masquerades as a post apocalyptic show only to be about a women who lost her son( never really knew him) and goes on a quest to win him back in her life. They literally could have made this any setting and in the end it would have been the same. It was ok but was hoping for a true apocalyptic show.
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