Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers

This was a very interesting documentary about the 7/7 London bombings. The interviews with survivors and people who were there that day were definitely the strongest part.

The interview with the civil rights activist felt out of place and didn't really add anything. Suggesting that the police or investigators were being racist just because they were trying to find suspects based on the info they had isn't fair. Profiling, in the context of a manhunt, is a logical and necessary part of narrowing down suspects, based on the information available at the time, not on prejudice.

It's unfortunate that Netflix appears to include these elements to attract certain viewers or to appeal to activist narratives, rather than to enhance the factual quality of the documentary. Investigators have a duty to act on the best leads available, regardless of race, age, or gender, and suggesting otherwise distracts from the real story and the real victims. Doing otherwise would just mean they'd waste time.

Still, even though it got quite frustrating in the end, the documentary remains a worthwhile watch.

Im an American. I was 10 when 9/11 happened so ive seen plenty of documentaries about it over the decades. So I was excited to see someone had made a proper 7/7 documentary. A terrorist attack that seems to have been largely forgotten as a result of more recent ISIS attacks in Europe with significantly higher casualties. But as you will see in the documentary, it goes deeper than just 4 Jihadists on 7/7 who blew themselves up, and id say, for the most part. They did a great job portraying it.

With footage most of us likely have never seen before, interviews with high ranking police, intelligence operatives, and the warmonger Tony Blair himself, we get an interesting comprehensive look at what happened. Though I personally would not have structured it the way it was, possibly due to the lack of footage (unlike 9/11), this is how the had to do it, and thats ok because it was compelling to watch the scenes unfold. However, while I watched on with interest into the subsequent forensics investigation and later-on failed attack and manhunt, I was displeased with something thats been creeping in to these documentaries as of late. The "poor me, Muslim pity party".

Right in the middle of sections discussing forensics, police investigations, internal discussions at MI-5. We get stopped, jarringly by "human rights activists" and other of that ilk. And they go on and on and on about how THEY were persecuted, not the 50+ people heinously murdered by true Muslims, BUT THEM, apparently 50+ dead isn't enough right? We have to be victims too. I was old enough to clearly remember 9/11, I remember the justifiable backlash against Muslims. When we have a plethora of dead people, I and very few other people want to hear about how its not real Islam, because it is, ive studied it, ive fought it. People complaining about being searched by police. Of course you are, when a white Catholic does the same, go ahead and search me. Get out of here with that nonsense and get back to the true crime investigation I came here for. Not a slew of people pretending that what happened isnt actually true textbook Islam justified by their "Holy" texts.

So while one can just skip through those stupid interviews, the rest is fantastic and another example of how Netflix still can produce good documentaries despite a lull in quality as of late, this one stands above most of the recent Netflix documentaries.

Pros:

It focuses on the title "Hunting the bombers" and just that.

Topic is vastly researched and no bias at all.

Cons:

Can do more. It had a lot of potential and did not cover Samatha Lewthwaite at all except in a 3 second photograph.

Post arrest story is missing. How the govt tackled the terrorism groups and after math of it.

As I started the documentary i was pretty excited in anticipation of how the terror group went down. But as I ended the documentary i left with a feeling of dissapointment since the makers have covered only the bombers not people behind them. I believe the victims would want to know how the evil has been tackled by their government.

Let me start by saying I watch a lot of crime documentaries, and I mean a lot.

This documentary series begins really well, it's a time line constructed by interviews, news reports and expert testimony that lays it all out really well. It explains it really well for people who are unfamiliar with it or weren't born at the time.

It starts falling apart in the 2nd episode. The narration is still there, but it's clearly trying to be as culturally sensitive as possible. I remember that day, and I remember those years. It did feel at times like they were attempting to minimise the extremism that permeated the world at that point. I appreciate the voices from Muslims who were there at the time, who spoke about how it didn't represent them. But despite the victims testimonies, it failed to capture the absolute fear and paranoia that gripped everyday people. Indicating people were unnecessarily 'bigotted' or people being profiled because people are just 'mean' was not needed. And the pointed repetition of 'homegrown' was so on the nose, by the end it was a little silly.

I understand the need to be a little careful when something still is a real world threat. And this is coming from someone with a Muslim partner. But this series really diluted what is a really big problem still.

The documentary was fine, not super compelling but generally interesting if not bland.

It is pitiful to watch the relative of the man who was shot by the police. She says the police lied lied lied lied lied, but the story that the suspect jumped over the turnstiles was perpetrated by the public, not by the police. So perhaps you are the liar ma'am.

It is so easy to criticize the police in any situation. In fact the police can almost never win. If you don't do enough, citizens are dying due to terrorist attacks. If you do too much, an innocent life may be taken by accident. You must execute your job with absolute perfection, and then perhaps 25% of the people will think that you did it correctly.

This documentary highlights that people are unbelievably unrealistic and ignorant. In the vast majority of cases, the police are trying their best to do the job and you couldn't do any better.

ABOUT MY REVIEWS:

I do not include a synopsis of the film/show -- you can get that anywhere and that does not constitute a meaningful review -- but rather my thoughts and feelings on the film that hopefully will be informative to you in deciding whether to invest 90-180 minutes of your life on it.

My scale: 1-5 decreasing degrees of "terrible", with 5 being "mediocre" 6- OK. Generally held my interest OR had reasonable cast and/or cinematography, might watch it again 7 - Good. My default rating for a movie I liked enough to watch again, but didn't rise to the upper echelons 8- Very good. Would watch again and recommend to others 9- Outstanding. Would watch over and over; top 10% of my ratings 10 - A classic. (Less than 2% receive this rating). For Lifetime Movies for Chicks (LMFC), drop the above scale by 3 notches. A 6 is excellent and 7 almost unattainable. Hi.