Mirage - Gefährliche Lügen

Overall the story is a giant meh. It tries very hard to be important and thrillerish, but ends up being generic and tiresome. The actors are not helping it at all, because they ooze apathy at any given moment, regardless how tense things are becoming. The dialogue is simple, to the point, with no useless emotional elaborations, space for character development, witty lines or anything that would put you in danger of feeling remotely connected or positive to what you're seeing. Basically, everyone just wants to move things along and get them over with.

BUT the desert scenes are beautiful. The shades, the colours, the buildings, the atmosphere they create. It might be a deeply personal thing, I just have something for large spaces filled with pale sand. And oh my goodness - the soundtrack!!! You can just watch the desert shots and listen to the soundtrack, and this could be your ultimate jam! Call me insane, but these are the two things I give 6/10 for. The rest can be recycled.

Clive Standen's eyes are too close together and that's about the best thing I can say about this mess! As another reviewer said, the main chick, who is supposed to have a high-powered job seems never to be at work, the son is a pouting little oik and everyone else is surplus to requirements. His Aussie accent is passable.

The glitzy ex-pat middle east is a big turn off and of course it is a major character as most locations tend to be. But if you can focus past that and get into the emotional heart of the characters then you have some chance of engagement in the thriller aspects of the plot. Marie-Josée Croze, the female lead, holds the screen very well, though some of her motivations were a bit far fetched at times. Clive Standen does tough guy running, fighting, safe breaking, driving dangerously all very well but the emotional close ups are not his forte. Considering this was a coproduction between Euro heavyweights it was not a spectacular success, but remains good, solid viewing that improves as you move through the 6 episodes. Clearly set up for a follow- up series, lets see if they get the cash. I'm sure the cast would like to do it all again.

First of all, I can't believe some reviewers complain that the protagonists are in their 50s. How old was Tom Cruise or Daniel Craig when they made their last action film? Or is it only an issue when an actress is the protagonist? Marie-Josee Croze was perhaps 48 when she made _Mirage_, and a stunning 48 at that. More importantly, she is still an amazing and mercurial actress, born to play highly compromised women.

The first episode of this miniseries is extremely well shot. The overhead shots, swirling camera motion, the tsunami seen as a reflection in a window superimposed on a disbelieving Croze, are all excellent. Later on the directing gets bogged down in the thriller plot-twists and increasingly relies on hand-held (like "24"), but once in a while there are still well composed, stunning images. And the Abu Dhabi skyline is always an eye candy. I assume the producers get a lot of concessions from the UAE government. The series mostly avoids criticism of UAE, presenting it as a Westernize seaside paradise. It takes pains to depict the police as mostly good guys, half of whom are women who do their own driving!

Unlike "24", but like most European espionage films these days, the subject matter is industrial spying, not terrorism. Too bad the writing is mediocre at best. (Compare this with another Canadian-European coproduction called "Thanksgiving.") The two male protagonists are jerks, but usually jerks have a tiny bit of charisma. As for the villains, they are not just uncharismatic; they are among the worst marksman ever seen. The main reason to see "Mirage" is the ever young and unpredictable Croze draped in head scarves, or cocking her head forward like a panther ready to pounce. It would so much better if she is cast as the presumed-dead spouse and spy. She has been wonderful in revenge films (_Another Silence_) and in conflicted roles set in the Middle East (_Collision_, _The Forgiven_).

Short punchy 6 part mini series with a bit of mix off everything. Defintely worth watching