paloma54

A very silly story, with a waste of actors, time, etc. The plot seems improbable, the main character, also the director, seemed self-obsessed and it really doesn't help the series. There seemed to be less of a love for food, with more attention paid to competition for the sake of it, with a ridiculous amount of smoking. How can people who smoke this much actually taste anything? Made the whole story implausible to be. Add in the over-the-top Japanese-cliched produce grocer, and the whole thing just seems a farce. The series would also be more enjoyable with one or two genuinely likeable characters.

There is nothing remotely competent about this supposed thriller. The lead female actress has an extremely grating, choking sounding voice, and I wondered who on earth told this woman to go into acting. I would have thought that a modestly pleasant sounding voice was the absolute minimum requirement.

The pacing of the show is very slow and the story could easily have been made in half the time. Despite its length, there isn't enough dialogue to answer some basic questions one would naturally have. I couldn't buy the instant deep renewal of friendship after we learn Elena's character disappeared from her friends lives 20 years earlier. Her relationship with Giulia struck me as forced and unnatural. We never get a real answer to the riddle of whatever drama took her away from Venice. Most of the time the series seems not to decide if it's a crime drama or the story of Elena, there's too much camera time spent on her but without much real character development. Although the setting is Venice and there's a fair amount of interesting camera angles, it always seems cold, overcast, and empty, and tourist-less as well. The sound effects and background music seemed intrusive, inappropriate and heavy handed. Worst of all was the way scenes from the present and past are all jumbled up together in seemingly deliberate obfuscation. It was hard work making it to the end of the series.

Never read the Tom Clancy book, but frankly, I expected something much better. Why would a company purchase the movie rights and then not use it?

The first half of this movie is basically so dark you can't see anything, and my husband and I kept wondering what was going on. The second half of the movie we just kept wondering how on earth anyone thought this garbage would make a movie. First of all, while I could imagine a female in the role of Greer, it would not be someone who looked like a Somali fashion model. Poor Jodie Turner-Smith doesn't have a voice that conveys anything at all. The sound is muffled and she drones on in a monotone. There is almost no plot, just a lot of dark shooting and fighting that is just a boring, senseless mess. Could we get our evening back please?