Idris Elba may have dropped out to play James Bond, but he already has a pretty terrific franchise starring John Luther, the stubborn and troubled British detective. The title character of the hit BBC series, which has been running since 2010, has now hit the big screen in the new feature film, directed and written by series veterans Jamie Payne and Neil Cross. Well, big screen for a while, as Luther: The Fallen Sun is only getting a limited theatrical run before it premieres on Netflix next month.
The creators have cleverly threaded the needle with this feature release to please longtime fans while providing an easy entry point for newcomers. The film plays like a serial episode on steroids, with significantly larger production values and a darker tone (and that’s saying something) that’s close to horror film territory.
Luther: The Fallen Sun
The Bottom Line fans can breathe a sigh of relief.
release date: Friday February 24 (on Netflix March 3)
Pour: Idris Elba, Cynthia Erivo, Andy Serkis, Dermot Crowley, Thomas Coombes, Lauryn Ajufo, Hattie Morahan, Vincent Regan
director: Jamie Payne
screenwriter: Neil Cross
Rated R, 2 hours 29 minutes
With so many melodramatic plot elements crammed into the first section that the film feels rushed, their ambitions border on breaking away from them. Luther takes on a case where a young man has disappeared down the middle of a freeway after stopping at the scene of an accident to help, and promises the man’s distraught mother that he will find her son. Not long after, the deranged psychopath responsible manages to frame Luther and throw him in jail (not a particularly difficult task given that the detective has been playing with proper police procedure quickly and easily since the series began).
Luther’s efforts to counsel Odette Raine (Cynthia Erivo), the detective newly hired on the case, are rudely rebuffed. So he manages to plan an elaborate prison break and becomes a fugitive himself, trying to track down the villain, although Raine is relentlessly pursuing him. These events, which could easily have filled several episodes of the series, are condensed into an unconvincing half hour or so.
Still, it’s a compelling set-up that offers plenty of fast-paced excitement. And when we see Luther standing on a rooftop in his trademark tweed jacket and looking out over the city like Batman, we hardly notice it.
A good heroic story needs a good villain, and screenwriter Cross has delivered a dork, certainly his best since Ruth Wilson’s Alice. He’s David Robey, a rich tech genius who’s gone mad since his wife nearly died in a fire. As played in an utterly chilling way by Andy Serkis, he’s a truly memorable character who delights in playing devilish games – including luring the relatives of people he’s killed into a secluded mansion where they, rather than their relatives alive, come across their bodies hanging from hooks just before the whole room bursts into flames.
The inevitable game of cat and mouse that ensues between Luther and his prey involves a breathtaking sequence set in a crowded Piccadilly Square, with shocking mass suicides and a chase and duel on the London Underground. Director Payne enacts the violent mayhem in a gripping manner and clearly relishes the opportunity to go bigger and bolder with a significantly larger budget.
Still, it’s the characters, not the cinematic set pieces, impressive as they may be, that give the film its power. Elba’s Luther, more emotionally damaged than ever, displays his characteristic psychological acuity when dealing with criminals and victims, not to mention his penchant for droll one-liners. When asked by a suspicious person to show his badge, Luther replies, embarrassed, “Forgot it in my other jacket. I’m sorry about that.” Erivo infuses her hard-nosed cop with a genuine ferocity that doesn’t shy away from her parenting responsibilities to her teenage daughter – and who eventually teams up with Luther to catch the villain.
Serkis Robey is the stuff of nightmares, making his Gollum look almost warm and snuggly. Robey, who broadcasts his gruesome murders to a worldwide audience of the sick via his “Red Bunker” on the Dark Web, is also a surprisingly complex character whose emotional vulnerability offers Luther the opportunity to bring him down. Serkis doesn’t shy away from Richard Widmark’s kiss-of-death theatrics in his virtuoso twist, but perhaps his most effective moment comes when Robey barely manages to suppress a yawn while pretending to comfort one of his victim’s relatives.
The film offers initiates a few Easter eggs, none of which are so obvious that newcomers feel left out. The best holdover from the series is Martin Schenk of Dermot Crowley, Luther’s longtime colleague and mentor, to whom he pleads, “One more time, for auld lang syne” for help. The two men’s warm relationship provides a welcome continuity, especially since so many other characters from the series met an untimely end.
Luther: The Fallen Sun goes overboard at times – especially in its climax sequence with a fight in a car plunged into a frozen lake that feels like something straight out of a Bond movie (one half-expects Jaws to guest star) . But it definitely delivers the goods, making it pretty obvious that DCI John Luther isn’t going away anytime soon.