Hard Sun

My hope is that if one makes the effort to look past the action (a spectacular choreography, by the way) and this genre-specific plot clichés, one's going to find a fresh and an interesting take on the age old dilemma that entertains the question whether people as a whole (as a society; as a global collective, if you wish) ought - let alone deserve - to be made aware of all the details and parameters of an impending extinction-level event.

Or, in other words - will we succumb to our most primal and atavistic impulses and instincts? Or maybe human spirituality's evolution has had finally caught up with the technological one? Are we all remaining to be simply cavemen (and "cavewomen", lets not be sexist ;) with cell phones and lap tops, or at last we've crossed over some kind of a mental - or a spiritual - threshold, thus becoming something... more? The thing is, we won't be sure which is it until we actually find ourselves on the precipice of some catastrophic, cataclysmic event. Once we had been reduced to creatures that act solely on their instincts and nothing else, then it will become clear whether the human nature has had evolved beyond that of cavemen (and cavewomen - I would hate to find this review dismissed on grounds of sexism and misogyny, hehe).

I think that the series have the real potential to gain "a must-watch" status. It all depends on whether the show's creators have dedicated more screen time and a stronger accent to the question has the humanity's mentality's evolution reached the point where we had finally become mentally fit enough to survive a global cataclysm.

If not, at least the show's entertaining, if nothing else.

The British are great at writing crime, this serie is another proof of that. While crime is not usually my favorite genre, I do like Luther and that series comes from the hand of Neil Cross. Since this mini-serie is written by him too I decided to give it a go, and I wasn't disappointed.

Agyness Deyn, who plays the role of Elaine Renko, was originally a model before she got into acting. When I read that I almost couldn't believe it, because she puts down a very convincing performance, that seems to come natural to her. Her character is a tough cookie and it's definitely not one you'd like to pick a fight with. As we get further into the series we do see more depth added to her character, which makes her all the more interesting.

The other lead role is played by Jim Sturgess. He portrays the character of Charlie Hicks, a cop with a rogue edge but otherwise a good man. Or at least, he thinks he is, but the story itself leaves the viewer to make up their own mind about that.

And that is not the only issue on which the viewer gets to fill in the blanks. A lot is left unanswered, but not in an annoying way. Or at least to me it wasn't irritating, but some people may not like it. I however, think it was done in a good way and with a satisfying ending.

The writer, Neil Cross, has said he was interested in doing a fiver year story arc, but to the best of my knowledge the series hasn't be renewed. It's a shame, because it's rare to see doomsday genres combined with crime, and it's even more rare to see it being done with this level of quality.

I have never understood why people are so quick to jump to the 1/10 score. The 1970 Film 'Trog', arguably one of the worst films ever made, gets an average of 3.6 so, even if you are hyper critical of some of the shortcomings of this series, it is clearly not 1/10.

Without giving another plot synopsis, the story is a London police drama underpinned by the knowledge of the protagonists, of the inevitable extinction of life on earth in 5 years.

I tend to be quite critical of procedurals that have outlandish and unbelievable plot elements. With this one though, as long as you buy the main premise (and that requires a certain suspension of disbelief), the extremity of the situation takes the focus off most details that could trip up the more nit-picky mind. So I for one was generally swept along.

What helps this is the pace and intensity of the programme. It is undoubtedly a high-adrenaline drama, with few gaps to take a breath. The music criticised by some commenters have for being too noisy (really?!) was well matched to the unrelenting tempo of the plot.

The casting and acting were both suitable to the drama, with a really convincing performance from Agnyess Deyn. Stylised it certainly was, but it was stylised well, so I really cant see that as a criticism.

There were a few niggles. I don't think the editing was brilliant. The various serial killer sub-plots were very variable in detail and the one in the last episode seemed almost throw-away. I got the feeling that they had had to scrunch the series down to 6 episodes having originally filmed for more.

Also how silence about such a life ending event could be maintained at all, and the ease with which the newspaper release in the first episode was quashed, strain the credulity a bit.

Anyway that's my tuppence worth. There's no accounting for taste, but I wish people would avoid rushing to unnecessarily harsh scoring. It ruins the system as a guide.

I hope there will be a second season because there are several questions left open. I really liked the characters and I liked especially that within the main story there are several smaller stories around the main characters. I can only recommend this series and I hope for a sequel.

I'm not sure why this series was so derided and so little watched when it first appeared. It is a lot better and a lot less predictable then many of the police procedure, formula, drama of recent times

Being honest I think Jim Sturgess was probably mist cast in one of the lead roles. He is very good as the hard boiled, cocky, copper but doesn't come across too well as the often (over) emotional family man. However that could be a fault with the script or direction rather than the actor because some of emotional histrionic portrayed by the Sturgess character are way too much and the script does seem to have a few flaws with the motivations and contradictions in a few of the characters.

Having said that that stories were interesting, The gayness Deyn character is a bit of a change and kept me interested once I got used to her and I think would have remained interesting for a few more series.

I do think it is a pity they are not making at least series two or three especially if the sci-fi of the 'Hard Sun' would have come more into play. I think in 10 years time when it is getting regular play on repeat channels this will become a cult not just because of some of it's faults that will be pointed out but because it was an enjoyable quote compulsive drama.