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Didn't quite live up to the massive expectations I had from an HBO and A24 co-production, but it's still better than a lot of miniseries you'll watch.

The Sympathizer is all about perspective. A Vietnamese perspective of the events. A Communist perspective of the events. Something that is absent from the Hollywood productions about the war.

The complex politics of Vietnam War told by our lead, two-faced spy, and unreliable narrator, the Captain. Hoa Xuande gives an absolutely great performance in this role, supported by Oscar winner, Robert Downey Jr in multiple roles.

As I haven't read the original novel, I cannot judge this show as an adaptation. But, the writing and story deserves a lot of praise. Doesn't take sides and criticises both parties of the war along with the American influence. According to writer's own words, he understood "how the revolution had gone from being the vanguard of political change to the rearguard hoarding power".

PCW's direction in the first 3 episodes is great, as expected. His style, especially in the editing choices, is absent from the rest of the episodes. It also has a bit of pacing issue for which I couldn't engage with the plot as I would have loved to. That's why I am not rating it any higher. But I loved the ending, and the finale was my favourite episode.

I was really looking forward to watching this, especially after reading the source material and its sequel. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as great as it could have been. I thought the creative liberties taken were welcome, but what I thought was missing through the series was The Captain's thoughts on capitalism, imperialism, and what it is like being Asian in the U. S. A. His thoughts were touched upon, but never examined with the level of depth the book did.

The story is ultimately about how The Captain lost sight of which side he was fighting for, and that he couldn't be a part of what he hoped to. That wasn't conveyed as clearly as it could have been.

The show felt more interested in showing the General as paranoid, yet intimidating and RDJ as the deceiptfulness of white America / imperialism.

I do not know what book the reviewer who claims the novel is set in France read but The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen takes place in America. That is the whole point of the story. The main character is a communist spy undercover as an aide to a South Vietnamese military commander who escapes to the United States of America at the conclusion of the war in Vietnam. Once in America, the narrator is then is a sleeper agent and a wry observer of American culture. His commentary on American life and capitalism offers a fresh perspective not offer seen and allows us, as readers, to see the war and its aftermath from a different and much needed viewpoint.

I do not write many reviews, usually when I am really blown away or feel that a movie or show is treated/viewed unfair or too harsh.

When I read about the book "the sympathizer" was being adapted into a mini series, it was thrilling. It was a great read and kept me awake for a few nights.

Episode 1 of the tv show was okay, followed by two serious letdowns. The fourth episode made up for it in certain aspects, somehow it was a parody on a previous parody, starring Robert Downey Jr, named "Tropic Thunder". Coming to that actor, is where I personally see the whole problem with the sympathizer show. It appears to be a vanity project for Iron Man. He takes on multiple roles but excells in none, aside from the weird movie director. Neither his CIA spook nor the cultural sucker professor are well done.

So, why even give it a five out of ten? For the 1st and 4th episode, for it being a show set in cool locations and including dark moments in history. Overall tho, I have to force myself to keep on watching, not looking forward to soak up the next episode.

I had hopes for this show especially with Park Chan Wook involved. It was interesting to see RDJ play different roles but no one would be surprised with his versatility in acting skills. The show started off decent but felt the show just wasn't executed in the best way possible. The story felt dragged out each episode with only a seven episode count and although it was nice to see some Asian representation, I just didn't care much for any of the characters. They might've been better off with doing a 2 hour movie. The satire tone worked on some parts but really was overdone throughout the show. I expected something more to keep me engaged and feel some type of emotional attachment but it never delivered. Considering that Hoa Xuande was playing a Vietnamese communist spy, I wanted to see more scenes that made you want to empathize more for the character so by the time the ending came, you'd feel satisfied with the outcome of his character.

I didn't know what to make of this mini-series from the previews. It seemed underwhelming. And Robert Downey Jr. Looked all the bit of a caricature.

However, realizing Park Chan-wook was involved, heavily gave me all the faith needed to fully invest. His work on the original Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr Vengence and Thirst brought Korean Cinema into its golden age, two decades ago.

The Sympathizer itself has the hallmarks of a Chan-wook film. The absurd, yet believable and charming characters. The constant sense of dread and a plot that feels like it can punish someone you are starting to care for, very quickly.

Excited to see where the series goes and feeling confident it's going to be good with its source material being a Pulitzer Prize winner.

I had high expectations for The Sympathizer but it didn't really pan out like I hoped it would.

Robert Downey Jr. Puts in an Emmy-bait performance, playing multiple roles, but they all seemed to be the same guy with just slight variations. There's a story-based reason for this if you stick it out till the end but it still did not come off well, watching a parade of cliches march through the story in lieu of well-rounded characters.

Another major mistake was casting an actor who is obviously 100% Vietnamese as a Eurasian character, which necessitated silly things like awkward looking blue contact lenses and white makeup that must have been stolen from Michael Jackson's cosmetics case.

The actor who played Bon was good though. The story always came alive when he was in a scene. The best episode was the one dealing with a zany movie about the Vietnam War and shot in Napa (??? Must have been a cheap quickie, not something Coppola or Scorsese would have stooped to).

The Vietnamese refugee community was fun, especially the demented General. But the lead character was always lying and being evasive, running away from himself, not even sure who he was. I guess that was the point of the story but when you have an unappealing lead character, it drags down the story.

Worth watching, but only just barely. HBO's glory days of prestige productions seems to be waning. Under Zaslav, I don't expect even productions of this caliber. Zaslav thinks HBO is a good brand to slap on a Harry Potter series.

Excellent casting and all brilliant actors. Fun, intense and with some slightly surreal twists and a nice touch of dark comedy in addition. A nice and fresh take to the usually fairly cliche spy genre. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen for a second in fear of missing a point or quirky twist of events. Robert Downey Jr is brilliant in 4 (or is it 5?) slimy roles, and he does each one brilliantly. But every single actor, main and others, are so well cast and brilliantly portraying their characters. I haven't read the book and don't intend to, so I've had the pleasure of being entirely unprepared, hence free/unbiased and able to just lean back and enjoy the ride. This is the best I've seen in a long time.

I really enjoyed The Sympathizer until we got to the last episode. Brutal. I'm not even sure what they were trying to accomplish but, IMO, they failed.

The show tells an amazingly interesting story. The Vietnam war is winding down with victory for the communists. The protagonist is working against the forces fighting the communists from within as a spy. He is ordered to escape to the United States at the conclusion of the conflict where he continues to spy.

His status as half-French and half-Vietnamese make him somewhat of an outcast in his own country and he only finds happiness with a pair of friends. It is this friendship that defines most of the story. One is a fellow communist in an authority position while the other is a loyalist who fights with all his heart against the communists.

The protagonist is haunted by this duality of friend versus country, and we see both his torment and his adaptability to difficult circumstances. His various relationships, the general and his daughter, and others is a study of the painful internal conflict of being friends with but working against people.

It's all good stuff. I was ready to rate this as an 8 or 9 but the last episode doesn't provide a meaningful resolution and, frankly, the torture scenes were unpleasant to watch.

Perhaps it's my western upbringing that didn't allow me to understand the "nothing" concept, but it just didn't resonate. If you can't end a show properly, it really damages all that came before.

Still, worth watching certainly, and others might get more out of the ending than me.

Endings are hard.

People expect serious tv series like Band of Brothers, Chernobyl, Shogun or The Last of Us. But this is Edgar Wright's style comedy but tv show. Funny, Engaging, Interesting and Good Acting. This is better Comedy than F. R. I. EN. D. S or Oscar bait serious WAR movies like Saving Private Ryan, Hacksaw Ridge and 1917 which are overrated. People's imagination go War movies or series not serious low rating. If you like What We do in the Shows, Tropic Thunder, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, or any Edgar Wright's Movies like I did You will have a Wonderful time and have a Fun watching the show unless if you are expecting serious war TV show.

As Episode 1 of "The Sympathizer" (2024 release; 7 episodes of about 55 min each) opens, it is 1975 "Four Months Before the Fall of Saigon", and "Death Wish" is playing in theaters in Saigon. We are introduced to Claude, a CIA agent who is working with the General, a high ranking guy in South Vietnam's army. Also in the General's inner circle is the Captain, who is actually a spy for North Vietnam. At this point we are a0 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this is the film adaptation of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen, which I have not read. While episode 1 brings us the end of the war, the remainder episodes focus on how the fleeing Vietnamese adjust to life in the US. This is billed as "black comedy", but to be honest I didn't see much comedy in this, black or otherwise. To be honest, I never really connected with any of these characters. That is not to say that this is a "poor" mini-series, though. But I had hoped for more/better than what this mini-series offers. I've seen 2 episodes so far, and I will give it 1 more try with Episode 3.

"The Sympathizer" premiered on HBO a few weeks ago and is also streaming on Max, where I've been watching it. The mini-series is currently rated 88% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which feels very generous to me. If you are in the mood for what life was like for the Vietnamese feeling their country after the fall of Saigon and coming to the US, I'd readily suggest you check it out and draw your own conclusion.

The first and second episode got me get up on my feet and applause at the end credit when nobody's even looking. Interesting and intelligent at the same time. Historical and very well researched on that time but snazzy at the same time. A story within a story organization is freaking genius The external narrative is The Captain in the reeducation camp, and the inner narrative is his experience as a spy from around the fall of Saigon to new (but not very new) life in America. Because he's telling the story in front of a guard, how far is the inner narrative true? The audience experiences 'the war of memory' second handedly because the captain might restart, recollect, and reeducate.

It's not just about the story. It also feels like I'm watching the theater within the series. The first interrogation scene on the stage with the lighting makes another frame within frame. A fictional film 'The Hamlet' in Episode 4 is played like a movie within a series as well. Like there is no camera rolling, it changes the screen ratio for 'The Hamlet'. Again, frame within a frame. Park knows how to use the screen to the fullest.

However, from episode 3, 'Sympathizer' becomes loose and flabby. Park's direction is sometimes for the sake of the direction itself. It shows off and screams 'I'm such a good director', and has nothing to do with connecting with the audience. His direction does not make the story fuller or the message louder. It's just artsy. And, what is the purpose of Downey Jr. Taking four roles? He was not even that good, and it was ineffective and inefficient, adding just confusion. Hoa Xuande, on the contrary, is a newly discovered talent. He succeeds in not losing wit and humor in serious situations. His acting is on point especially in the black comedy.

I'd say the good part about this movie is like it was taken directly from the novel, page to page.

However, I can tell the people who made this movie don't actually have the full experience of Saigon in that time, despite having the Vietnamese cast. Saigon nickname was the Pearl of the Far East, people speak multilingual like a norm.

Spies are everywhere but they speak like normal people, they don't call each other comrade. They may even speak French or English to avoid suspicious.

Overall, the movie delivered the spirit of the novel, but it was a hard watch due to the unauthentic of the setting.

The start of the show needed to be a season long and not skip to American story. Missed opportunity for contrasting worlds between South Vietnam, North Vietnam and California. Good acting and premise. A24 should cease operations, they so bad.

The start of the show needed to be a season long and not skip to American story. Missed opportunity for contrasting worlds between South Vietnam, North Vietnam and California. Good acting and premise. A24 should cease operations, they so bad.

The start of the show needed to be a season long and not skip to American story. Missed opportunity for contrasting worlds between South Vietnam, North Vietnam and California. Good acting and premise. A24 should cease operations, they so bad.

... but rapidly subsides into an incoherent vanity project for Robert Downey, Jr.

Downey is usually terrific and it's hard to grasp why he signed on to this slice of bland mediocrity. One guesses he either owed someone a favor or is in dire financial straits. The dialog and direction are like something out of a high school theater production.

I don't know nor do I especially care about the source material. The general concept of a North Vietnamese double agent floating between Vietnam and the US is fertile enough ground for this series to have been much better.

It doesn't appear that the producers were really trying all that hard.

HBO's The Sympathizer takes Viet Thanth Nguyen's award-winning novel and crafts a story that goes beyond the historical hyperbole so familiar to those of us who were growing up during the Vietnam war. Hoa Xuande plays The Captain, who walks a typical spy-vs-spy tightrope which never feels stale, thanks to the crisp writing and fast-moving direction teams. He's tasked with working for a South Vietnamese general as Saigon begins its fall in April of 1975 and he feverishly tries to juggle his official duties with his covert operations as a communist spy for North Vietnam.

Robert Downy Jr. Romps through the era as CIA operative Claude, who works with The Captain through the evacuation from Saigon and re-integration into American society. Sandra Oh makes her appearance stateside during episode two, bantering about the inherent racism within Orientalism and bedding our hero for fun.

Viewers will undoubtedly be emotionally and politically divided in their response to The Sympathizer, but HBO offers us a multi-faceted point of view about the Asian people who lived through the Vietnam War, and their post-survival journey.

Robert Downey Jr on an HBO show that Team Downey produced is looking promising after episode one . Looking forward to seeing how this series plays out ,definitely has an interesting story. People saying in their reviews that Downey should let another actor play the role is ridiculous , having one of the best actors of our time playing this role can only improve this show also bring in more viewers considering the other cast members are unknown but after seeing the pilot the cast is great! The last show that Team Downey produced about Perry Mason was amazing so I would expect this to be just as good if not better ,guess we'll see.

Among the many honors bestowed upon The Sympathizer is selection as one of Time magazine's 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time. Yes, it also includes sophisticated humor, but nothing goofy.

In this treatment of Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, mystery and thrill are on the back burner, while self-indulgence is in ample supply. It is essentially a vehicle for Robert Downey Jr. To amuse himself with a succession of annoying characterizations, but director Park Chan-wook contributes innumerable quirky gimmicks and distractions.

Full disclosure: having began the series with high expectations we gave up on it after the second episode. If you can't hack it, an excellent alternative is available: Read the book.

Unfortunately, the movie Sympathizer Episode 1 indeed distorts history.

Please look at just a few examples:

1- South Vietnamese Police force's uniform during the war. It was the white shirt with grey pants. In the film, the director changed it to a beige shirt and beige pants uniform.(In addition to regular Police force, the Republic of Vietnam also had a Field Police force with military-like camouflage uniform).

2- In the movie, the Police General rode a big motorbike to lead the evacuation bus through the streets of Saigon to Tan Son Nhut airport. According to the movie, this evacuation bus took place one day before the fall of Saigon, so it was April 29, 1975. But what kind of crazy general would do such a thing? Firstly, it would attract people's attention. Secondly, that day, undercover communist agents already emerged from hiding on the streets of Saigon. How could the General dare to be a target for their handguns? I believe that the author has a certain contempt to the generals of South Vietnamese government so he attempted to ridicule the Police General in his novel.

3- Also in the movie, the evacuation bus drove through deserted streets with uniform of South Vietnamese soldiers littered all over the streets. The reality is it was not until 11:30 AM of April 30, 1975, when President Duong Van Minh ordered the army of the Republic of Vietnam to surrender, then the soldiers took off their military uniform and laid down their rifles (some units even did not follow the order and fought to their deaths). But in the movie, this scene took place on April 29, 1975. This is distorting history and defaming the Republic of Vietnam army with the implication that they were cowards and had deserted one day before the President issued the surrender order.

4- Due to 21 years of division (1954-1975) with different political systems, North Vietnam and South Vietnam used many different words for the same things. But the movie let the South Vietnamese Captain speak the North Vietnamese terms. For example, for "bring the car", North Vietnamese say "Dieu xe" but South Vietnamese say "Mang xe/dem xe".

Movie directors in Vietnam are quite careful when making historical films. For example, when making a film about South Vietnam during the French colonial period, they invited the late veteran writer Son Nam to be a Cultural Advisor, to ensure images of houses, cars, clothes, language, etc. Be faithful to historical truth.

Writer Nguyen Viet Thanh was just a 4-year-old boy when Saigon fell so he knew nothing and remembered nothing. But when writing about Saigon in its last days before the fall, he failed to ask his parents or his senior community members to check if the details in his story match the reality. The person more to blame is film director Park Chan-wook. He didn't view thousands of photos and documentaries about South Vietnam during the war. He also did not use a senior Vietnamese Cultural/Historical Advisor who is easily available among Vietnamese American communities all over the U. S.