Perfect crime

The Escape Artist is a so-so piece of entertainment. A three-part Series. Here's the premise.

David Tennent plays a Defense Attorney so good at what he does that his peers refer to him as an Escape Artist; he gets his clients out of seemingly impossible circumstances. In the first half hour he gets two murder clients Not Guilty verdicts. But the second of the two results in freeing a man who promptly goes out and murders again. And the Escape Artist knows it. And is faced with the questions: (1) What to do, and (2) Is it OK for a defense attorney to help the prosecution, and (3) Does every defendant deserve a good defense?

These questions hang over the three part series. And, to some degree, they are all answered. But the failing of the film lies in the way the story is told. For quite some time the viewer is baffled by what our hero is doing; the what and the why? He is brilliant, that we know. And so we are willing to have faith in his actions. But finally, and sadly, we shake our heads. And we say, 'How'd he do that? How'd he Know that? What'd I miss?'.

We do in fact get told the 'what's, the why's, the how's. But by then I was already too angry at the story to appreciate the attorney's genius.

This BBC mini-series was short on credibility but pretty long on tension and suspense, helped by convincing acting and pacey direction. David Tennent, who appears to be everywhere on TV at the moment, is a hot-shot young city barrister who gets a sadistic murderer off on a technicality, but who by snubbing him after the trial wreaks a terrible fate for his family. Although an eye-witness to the horrific crime perpetrated on his wife in their holiday cottage, Tennent finds himself the biter-bit as the perpetrator turns to his chief rival in the "Young Lawyer of The Year" stakes, Sophie Okinedo, who also appears to be everywhere on TV at the moment, as his defence solicitor, her character's detachment and ambition now ironically reflecting Tennent's own character earlier.

Like I said, the plot was unbelievable but once you cottoned onto this and surrendered to it as a sort of UK-based John Grisham entertainment, it was an engaging enough production. The acting helped to paper over the plot holes, Tennent as the high-flier brought to earth with a crash, Toby Kebbell as the clinical but devious psychopath Liam Foyle and Okinedo as Tennent's young legal rival, her ambition clouding her judgement in taking on the case of such a brutal killer.

Spread over three nights you could see the padding and as I indicated earlier the sensationalist story-line probably belonged more in a Stateside rather than London-based setting, over the top final confrontation and all.

I personally prefer my thriller dramas when they're a bit more grounded in reality but as escapist nonsense I suppose it just about justified three hours of my time.

As others have pointed out, there are irritating problems with logic throughout the story. But I found the show clearly worth viewing - because the dialog was great, the premise was a good one, the acting and directing were outstanding, I cared about the characters, and the ending was satisfying.

The writing of a screenplay has a number of important components, and not every good writer is a master of all. David Wolstencroft was the author, and his dialog is very good, his character development excellent, the basic scenario good, his plot creativity good, his resolution of the story rather brilliant. His one fault, as I see it - and it's a big one for me - is believability. In order to advance his story, he resorts to plot twists that defy logic, and characters who act stupidly and have emotions that don't fit - and he does it over and over. A serious failing. I've often thought that every screenplay that wants to be considered as serious art should go through a logic evaluation process before screening.

Still, it was a riveting series, and I couldn't wait to see how it would turn out. I worried about some of the characters, the villain was memorable, and I loved the ending; it was so clever that a little implausibility there didn't ruin it for me.

David Tennant is a talented barrister whose big win comes back to haunt him in "The Escape Artist," from 2013. Lots of negative comments here on IMDb.

Will has to defend Liam Foyle in a horrific murder case. It seems fairly clear that he's guilty, but Will manages to get him acquitted. The next thing he knows, Foyle has filed a complaint against Will. And here's where the problems with the script begin. Motivations throughout are simply not clear, and I guess we're supposed to assume that because this guy is a sociopath, he does things for the hell of it.

And for the hell of it, he's out to get his defense barrister. His next move is more heinous, and this time, Will sees him when he looks out the window. This time, though, another barrister takes his case, and Will feels what it's like on the other side.

There were criticisms on this board about the way British court procedure was portrayed. Naturally we here in America don't know much about that. What we do know is how odd the U.S. courts can be, so nothing surprises us. I watch a lot of true crime and have seen innocent people sitting on death row for 16 years, an abusive husband given joint custody of his children with his wife (he winds up nearly killing her) - etc.

British courts aside, this is an unbelievable story that is nevertheless engrossing and has a neat, if preposterous, twist at the end. I enjoyed the acting overall as well. The script could have used a little more work in finding stronger motivations. I would guess that the writer had an incredible idea for a denouement and filled in the rest, but not very carefully.

BBC Crime has always been a certain sign of quality - I have never discontinued any of their series because of disturbing implausibility or something. On the other hand, as so many similar works are created monthly, it is evident that not all can be up to par or they just do not bespeak you as much.

The Escape Artist is such a series where the share of court events and dramatics sometimes tend to overshadow the thrill and the urge to find out what was really the case. David Tennant as Will Burton, Sophie Okonedo as Maggie Gardner, Toby Kebbell as Liam Foyle are more than good, but often the aridity of scenes with-around them does not bring the suspense along as it could be. Still, the logic of events remains and some steps odd at first obtain the satisfactory solution and motivation later on. Bearing in mind Burton´s profession, the final outcome is logical as well.

Thus, the performances excel the script decidedly, but 3 episodes only let you dig yourself not in too big redundancy or have blah! feelings. Watch it, ponder a bit and then find other works where the stars of this series perform :)