Rating: C
Dir: Jamie Payne
Star: Idris Elba, Andy Serkis, Dermot Crowley, Cynthia Erivo
Having chewed through the various series of the Luther TV series in short order – not least because they are… well, short – seemed appropriate to finish off with the Netflix/BBC co-production. It’s a little odd, since the show itself is no longer on Netflix here in the US, leaving the movie looking a bit forlorn. The series had Chris and I discussing Elba’s creds as a potential 007. He’s certainly got the intensity, though she reckons he walks as if suffering from a bad case of hemorrhoids, which isn’t very suave or Bond-like. He would be older: currently 51, while the oldest 007 to start was Roger Moore, who played Bond from ages 45 through 57.
If that boat has probably sailed, the way this ends seems almost a deliberate attempt to stoke the rumour mill. I’d best say no more, and whizz back to the beginning, which sees Luther (Elba) investigating a series of disappearances. When he gets too close – though it doesn’t seem very close at all, to be honest – perpetrator David Robey (Serkis) dumps public a folder of all Luther’s crimes, resulting in him being sent down for a long stretch. After Robey resumes his imaginatively lethal activities, Luther breaks out of jail to stop him. This involves the somewhat unwilling help of his former boss Martin Schenk (Crowley), and entirely unwilling help of Odette Raine (Erivo), the current head of the Serious and Serial Crime Unit. At least, until Robey abducts her daughter.
This plays like a London-based version of Se7en. It’s all darkness and perpetual rain, with a tormented hero chasing down a twisted psychopath, though is less about Luther’s own issues than the series. He remains a fascinating anti-hero, one who regards the law as more of an inconvenient obstacle, in his relentless pursuit of evil in its most dreadful forms. Robey is creepy enough, but feels almost too overwhelming in his abilities and talents. I mean, orchestrating mass suicide at Piccadilly Circus, before evaporating from the hordes of armed police present, plus Raine and Luther? I began to wonder how he was ever going to be brought to justice. Or what his motivation and endgame were, since Robey seemed busy enough running his Internet snuff live-stream.
It ends in a way which feels like an echo of the Millennium Trilogy – at a millionaire’s hideaway, deep in the frozen wastes of Scandinavia. This relies on Robey suddenly abandoning the smarts which got him to this point, not helped by employing minions who could be improved if replaced by pond-scum. I did miss the sense of grubby realism which permeated the series. And not just because the best route from London to the Arctic Circle, here involves taking a ferry from Dover? The movie also feels about 25 years too late with its Internet scaremongering. Fortunately, Elba and Serkis hold things together with their performances, although there are still moments where things teeter precariously close to parody. If this is the end for Luther, perhaps it’s for the best.