Condor27

The premise was good and seemed to fit into those family friendly amateur sleuth type show and indeed for the first half fit right into that cosy murder mystery style that has proved very popular.

However in the second half the F word started to make an appearance and was used several times along with other milder swear words which just seemed out of place and will put a lot off.

Another curious thing, in this day of the dangers of smoking plus with about 90% of the population now non smokers why make the leading lady a smoker?

This seemed a mishmash of ideas that left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth.

Timothy Spall as always is excellent but based on the first episode I found it very disappointing. It is advertised as a comedy drama but I felt more effort was put into the comedy than the drama. It did make me chuckle a few times but I was hoping it would be a drama with a slight comedic touch. What I struggle with most was trying to cram the story it into one episode. We seemed to jump from puzzling over a few random clues to all of a sudden having a Death in Paradise type ending where everyone was gathered together and the big rather complex reveal was made with no explanation as to how they got there.

I will give episode two a try but not hopeful I'm afraid.

Edit. Well I gave episode two a try and enjoyed it more, by the time I watched all of season one I had changed my mind and now look forward to season 2.

One of the problems reviewing this movie is it is the first part of a three part sage and as enjoyable as it is, the various story lines we are seeing are not resolved, ideally a review after all three are released would be more accurate.

The first thing you notice however is the quality of the production and the stunning photography. The various storylines are good but this is a slow burner. Kevin Costners character doesn't appear until quite a way in and is potentially one of the strongest story lines. He portrays a quiet but strong confident character who comes up against a family of sons who are nasty individuals. This has a hint of Clint Eastwoods nameless man in the spaghetti westerns.

This is undoubtedly an excellent western and I am looking forward to the next chapter which I believe is out this (2025) autumn. If I had a criticism I felt that at nearly 3 hours long none of the numerous story lines were resolved enough to make a truly satisfying movie as a stand alone.