Palomas negras

It's a strange mix of quality. I don't need a genre to stick to one thing, so the tonal variety doesn't bother me-but the execution? That's another story. The camera work and acting? Top-notch. The set design and writing? Not so much. Okay, maybe not *terrible*, but definitely weak. The vibe I got was: "People are dumb; they won't question this."

They'll imply a bomb with some visual cliché or stage a massive public murder, and-surprise!-no cops show up. Just our sly sleuth protagonist poking around for clues like it's a murder mystery brunch. It's the kind of lazy stuff that makes a pedant want to cry.

That said, if you can shush the little voice in your head whispering, "That's not how the world works," you might actually enjoy yourself.

First, I liked this show. However, it is a spy thriller in the same way that Love, Actually was a movie about politics. Yes, LA was about a prime minister, but it was a love story. Black Doves, for me, was a romantic/buddy comedy with the spy theme thrown on to give a little frisson. I love good spy shows, and this wasn't one. It was a pretty good romantic/buddy comedy, though, so I recommend giving it a try.

Keiran Knightley and Ben Whishaw have great chemistry as partners in crime. There are nice comedic turns by assorted assasins. The bloodshed is the over-the-top Tarantino kind that is fun, but not thrilling. Overall wonderful, fun acting.

I just finished watching Black Doves and want to see more. Black Doves currently has a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes so it's obviously a hit with both critics and the audience. It stars Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw and Sara Lancashire. All 3 and the rest of the cast were all terrific. I won't be surprised to see this show get nominated for multiple awards come award season. It has plenty of action, drama, comedy and twists and turns to entertain everyone. There are so many spy shows and some especially great ones this year so you have to be good enough to stick out of you want people to notice and Black Doves definitely does that. It's a must watch for any fan of spy series.

It's one of those common entertainments where you can't really criticise the acting and the production values are pretty much flawless. It starts off really well. You think you are about to be absorbed and seduced by a complex spy thriller. But John Le Carre it is not. Instead you soon realise that it's neither serious nor funny. As is so often the case these days it's the paucity of the story that is the problem. It has quirky characters and indeed characters with all the charm and conversational wit one expects of psychopaths. They could be related to Eve from Killing Eve but these are poor cousins and don't really add up well on the scale of DNA psychopath inheritance. It's a comic book caricature of a spy thriller with a storyline that relies on a thin plot and frequent action scenes to fill the spaces. Sadly disappointing, it could have been really good.

One of my chief, and constant, criticisms of so many films now, is the lack of solid and consistent scripts, AND marred by horrible musical tracks and pathetic sound mixing. So I start this by saying that it was a real pleasure to discover a whole SERIES with no glitches or distractions in sound. As for the script and plot, as one reviewer here put it: "Ok if you don't think too hard. Good acting. Lazy writing. Plot holes you can drive a truck through." I wold add- high marks for the humor built in and subtlety of some great lines such as: "Sorry" as the store-clerk is knocked out with drugs. Very fine acting and production throughout, but too many holes and dead spots to carry the overall. Would love to see a continuation with more talented scripting.