The Fear Index

I didn't expect much having read some reviews, but at only 4 episodes and on an interesting topic I gave it a chance. The first couple of episodes were somewhat entertaining and the story had some promise, although marred by poor acting and overacting from the lead characters. By the final episode though the story had become farcical and cliched, and spoilt by sloppy technical design, such as the lead running a command line script that prompted for a y/n response but the script not waiting for a response and just exiting back to the shell. The AI related dialog is also inaccurate and under developed. Certain aspects of the story line don't hang together and appear to added in for padding, with some of the more interesting possibilities never really explored, and the final few minutes of ending is entirely predicable, silly and once again, technical nonsense.

My fear was when in the final few seconds I found myself saying "please no" at the possibility of the ultimate cliche ending. I'll give it a 3, but there are really no redeeming features of this, and would recommend giving it a pass.

Another short self-contained box set series, and The Fear Index is an adaption from a curious modern financial thriller.

From the off, I have previously read the novel by the ever reliable Robert Harris but it was many years ago and I have to admit I found that I'd forgotten much of what had happened. Nevertheless I have a certain bias as I did enjoy the book and noticed some differences but not necessarily enough to derail this.

Despite that, I was kind of disappointed. There's no denying the authenticity of the settings and look of the show but it's TV drama, and the actors chosen for the roles just did not convince me they fitted the parts. With all due respect some of them were clearly in over their heads in this one, in particular the wife and the business partner.

The storyline does move at a great pace but really they struggled to capture the tension, and I don't want to give away anything so have to stop there.

It's a shame. I get the feeling this would have made a better 2 hour film in the hands of a seasoned director with a bigger budget. It worked brilliantly with the Ghost Writer which was another book by the same author with Brosnan & McGregor in the lead roles.

This is disappointing. Not by any means unwatchable, but in my opinion a really missed opportunity.

Setup is not unique, but it has some original angles and thoughts that make it entertaining.

I like that it's short and well paced, instead of dragging the matter like most series do nowadays.

Overall visual quality is great. Same can be said about actor performances.

Although overall its okay, some characters really seem to be acting out unreasonably just for drama's sake, which doesn't make a show great.

Main flaw, as I see it, is that it fails in building up the tension as it potentially could. There is no depth to the suspects, no depth to the main characters, expect a little bit for the protagonist, no small detail to enhance the mystery. Even the "villain" is not explained - movies in the 90's did it better.

Overall, it's a good show to spend an evening, the take is interesting, but it's superficial. The setup of this show is much better than the eventual execution is.

Maybe more will be explained in the next season, adding depth and detail, but it's an unsatisfying drag.

My recommendation: skip this, read the book. If you want to watch a decent Robert Harris adaptation, try "Munich: Edge of War" on Netflix instead.

Ham-fisted direction, limp dialogue, wooden acting, over the top sound track all conspire to ruin what could have been a great thriller.

Having the lead run around pointlessly, full of angst, accompanied by loud thumping music is not a substitute for dramatic tension.

But instead of Jason Statham we have Josh Harnett running around like a headless chicken having an episode. It's weird too with cannibalism. Non of the side characters are remotely interesting. The story did not pay off in the end and I regret watching it.