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- 15,141
Saw the whole thing.
I LOVED the concept. I liked the black and white (yup-- I was that guy. It is NOIR).
Here's what I did not like-- TOO LONG for the story (if it really had one-- it was a pastiche of ideas thrown together).
I LOVED Li Jun Li (and that there was probably more time spent on her hairstyle than on Nick Cage's costuming).
I watched it in black and white. They made it in black and white and titled it "noir."
BUT; noir? Noir is a storytelling style of compression, not expansion. And boy oh boy did this tale expand. So much so that it was all over the place with detective stories, femme fatales, gangstas, German mad scientists, "Heroes" leftovers from the 2000s, angry black men, "tolerance" of fat people in a depression economy.
The plus? They didn't over-emphasize the origin stor(ies) and the crazy idea of it all.
I thought it was too much "thrown at the wall" paced poorly. I still love the most basic/kernel concept and would be up for a trimmed down season 2 with MORE "noir" elements. Do that right and it will be A+.
As it was, it was kind of plodding, with too many pacing problems (and identity issues). The thing is, the characters in noir are "black and white" as well-- they usually do not have endless emotional depth to drag them down.
It was okay, but left me feeling sad, not psyched. It felt like twenty or thirty half-fleshed out "cool ideas."
But I did like Ben, Cat and Janet, but they were neither deep characters nor good caricatures.
I hope they try a meticulous season 2.
I LOVED the concept. I liked the black and white (yup-- I was that guy. It is NOIR).
Here's what I did not like-- TOO LONG for the story (if it really had one-- it was a pastiche of ideas thrown together).
I LOVED Li Jun Li (and that there was probably more time spent on her hairstyle than on Nick Cage's costuming).
I watched it in black and white. They made it in black and white and titled it "noir."
BUT; noir? Noir is a storytelling style of compression, not expansion. And boy oh boy did this tale expand. So much so that it was all over the place with detective stories, femme fatales, gangstas, German mad scientists, "Heroes" leftovers from the 2000s, angry black men, "tolerance" of fat people in a depression economy.
The plus? They didn't over-emphasize the origin stor(ies) and the crazy idea of it all.
I thought it was too much "thrown at the wall" paced poorly. I still love the most basic/kernel concept and would be up for a trimmed down season 2 with MORE "noir" elements. Do that right and it will be A+.
As it was, it was kind of plodding, with too many pacing problems (and identity issues). The thing is, the characters in noir are "black and white" as well-- they usually do not have endless emotional depth to drag them down.
It was okay, but left me feeling sad, not psyched. It felt like twenty or thirty half-fleshed out "cool ideas."
But I did like Ben, Cat and Janet, but they were neither deep characters nor good caricatures.
I hope they try a meticulous season 2.
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