Certificate: 15 (strong threat, violence, language, sexual violence references). Running Time: 129 mins. UK Distributor: Netflix
WHO’S IN IT?
Idris Elba, Cynthia Erivo, Andy Serkis, Dermot Crowley, Jess Liauden, Lauryn Ajufo, Natasha Patel, Henry Hereford, Hattie Morahan, Vincent Regan, Edward Hogg, Einar Kuusk
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Jamie Payne (director), Neil Cross (writer, producer), Peter Chernin, Idris Elba, David Ready and Jenno Topping (producers), Lorne Balfe (composer), Larry Smith (cinematographer), Justine Wright (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Disgraced DCI John Luther (Elba) breaks out of prison to pursue a deadly cyber-criminal…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON LUTHER: THE FALLEN SUN?
DCI John Luther, the protagonist of the hit BBC crime drama series by Neil Cross, is basically Britain’s answer to Columbo. Portrayed across five seasons by Idris Elba, Luther is the kind of detective who often teeters on the edge of crookedness, but almost always leans furthest into the right side of the law, as he’s hunting down and apprehending some truly disturbed serial killers, from narcissistic attention-seekers to righteous vigilantes to, most famously, Ruth Wilson’s delightfully sinister psychopath Alice Morgan. While the character is conceptually not that much different from a lot of other TV detectives, Elba’s thunderous screen presence and the dark, gritty tone that Cross weaves throughout this series has made him a popular figure amongst TV audiences, so much so that he’s now been granted his own feature film in the form of Luther: The Fallen Sun, which Netflix is stepping in to produce and distribute.
As is the case with many TV-to-film adaptations, it is bound to appeal most toward the show’s fanbase, with relative newcomers left to play a bit of catch-up either prior to or during their viewing of this film. However, if one is able to simply see it as a standalone crime thriller, Luther: The Fallen Sun is a decent ride into depravity, filled with the kind of grim nastiness and borderline silliness you’d expect from an average episode but multiplied by at least eighty.
The film takes place after the events of the fifth season, which ended with – spoilers – Elba’s Luther being arrested for a number of offenses he had committed over the series, for which he is found guilty and sentenced to do time in prison. As we quickly find out, though, Luther’s fall from grace was partially orchestrated by David Robey (Andy Serkis), a billionaire who moonlights as a deranged cyber-criminal who spies upon potential victims through their software, and blackmails them before gruesomely murdering them. With Robey still at large, and with Luther – who previously investigated the case before being done in – behind bars, it’s not long before the disgraced detective decides to make a break for it during an orchestrated prison riot, and return to the streets of London to find and take down the killer once and for all. His fugitive status also puts him in the crosshairs of counterintelligence officer Odette Raine (Cynthia Erivo) and his former superintendent Martin Schenk (Dermot Crowley), who’s been brought in from retirement to help track Luther down, which all escalates in a race against time for the former copper to bring his dangerous new foe to justice.
Like the show it has spun off from, Luther: The Fallen Sun revels in the grim and unrelenting criminal atmosphere of Cross’ vision of London, which is often so menacing and dreary that it makes the one in Se7en look like a Katy Perry music video. This is a world where, as a mere example, people are kidnapped, presumably tortured to death, then hanged up by the neck in a fancy mansion for their relatives to stumble upon after being alerted to their presence, all by someone cruel and heartless enough to then befriend said relatives under different guises, just for his own personal amusement. The show definitely had its extreme moments as well, but on a much bigger budget Cross and director Jamie Payne (who also directed episodes of the show’s fifth season) are able to all but go the full Saw in depicting some truly nasty imagery where very few people are safe. As an avid viewer of the series myself, I’m more or less numb to this level of depraved violence, but I can imagine those going in who haven’t seen the show finding themselves rather shocked by how deeply into grim territory it regularly finds itself in, and that’s even before Luther’s ruthless break away from his prison cell.
This prisoner escape sequence is one of the numerous action set-pieces that Cross and Payne have been granted enough money to incorporate into their film, and although at first seeing such cinematic techniques and patterns in the world of Luther (which up until now had largely been restricted by its television-budgeted limitations) takes a bit of getting used to, they are executed well enough to keep you engaged. On top of that, you have two equally compelling turns that you can’t take your eyes off of; Idris Elba is, as ever, great in the lead role, while Andy Serkis is having an absolute blast hamming it up as a relentless villain who you really, really want to see get what’s coming to him, either by Luther’s hand or somebody else’s. The film luckily focuses most of its energy on these two opposing figures, and it works particularly well, especially when the two of them share scenes together and generate energy not seen since the days of Alice Morgan (who, sad to say, is nowhere to be seen in this film).
That being said, it doesn’t take long for things to take some turns that are quite outlandish, and prone to some pretty ridiculous concepts. There are things that Serkis’ villain does here that you’re not completely sure how he’s been able to pull off or get away with, even with all the wealth he inexplicably has, and as with previous villains in the show you’re trying to look for logic to this method of madness that often isn’t there (his motivation might as well be because he’s bored). The character, as awesomely as Serkis plays him, is heightened to extreme degrees that you’re half-expecting him to move on from London and start terrorising Gotham City – hell, he even has his own Mr. Freeze-like villain lair where the film’s climax takes place – with only Elba’s Batman able to stop him (as a side-note, for all the debate about whether Elba could play James Bond, Luther: The Fallen Sun proves he’d be pretty great as the Caped Crusader himself).
While it often stretches plausibility, and threatens to descend into cartoonishly bleak territory, this should largely satisfy fans of the show who have been clamouring for a feature-length case for DCI John Luther to tackle. It may require a great deal of suspension of disbelief, but it’s just about worth it for a decently entertaining crime thriller that continues things nicely enough.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Luther: The Fallen Sun is a characteristically bleak and gruesome feature-length continuation of the hit BBC series, which revels in its dark and gritty criminal atmosphere so much that it sometimes becomes cartoonishly grim, but some cinematic action and two equally compelling lead performances by Idris Elba and Andy Serkis steer things along decently.
Luther: The Fallen Sun will be released on Netflix from Friday 10th March 2023.
It is currently showing in select cinemas nationwide.
