On March 10, the detective thriller “Luther: The Sun in Decline” was released on Netflix. This is a continuation of the 5-season series about the London police inspector John Luther, whose role was played by Idris Elba. In the review below, we share our impressions of what we saw and tell whether the new investigation of the main character turned out to be sufficiently intense and interesting.
“Luther: The Fallen Sun” / Luther: The Fallen Sun
Genre detective, thriller
Directed by Jamie Payne
Starring Idris Elba, Cynthia Erivo, Andy Serkis, Dermot Crowley, Henry Hurford
Netflix premiere
Release year 2023
IMDb site
Inspector John Luther was fired for breaking the law during past investigations and put behind bars. And ex-cops have a very difficult life in prison, and Luther was no exception. But the appearance of a new obsessed killer forces the protagonist to once again embark on the path of fighting evil.
Meanwhile, many changes have taken place in the department where John once worked. His boss, Martin Schenk, retired, inspector Odette Rein became the chief, and the office bought more modern monitors for work. When Odette learns about Luther’s escape from prison, she goes to Schenk for help. It’s obvious that they all have to work together somehow to catch the bloodthirsty criminal.
The series “Luther” debuted on screens back in 2010 and immediately won the favor of the public, and Idris Elba deservedly received a “Golden Globe” for this role. The creator of the project, Neil Cross, did not hide that he was inspired by Sherlock Holmes and the series “Columbo”.
From the first, Elba’s character inherited high intelligence and tremendous insight, and from the second, the series received the detective subgenre howcatchem. This is when the viewer learns at the beginning of the story who (and possibly why) committed the crime, but the main intrigue is based on how the protagonist will get the truth and make the villain suffer the punishment.
The peculiarity of the story “Luther” was that the main character could almost never allow himself to focus on one thing. In almost every episode, he had to literally be torn between, say, the investigation of another murder and problems that were more related to his personal life.
Also, the series felt extremely bleak, both visually and tonally. From all sides, the gray English capital turned out to be an excellent location to emphasize the difficult general atmosphere and the absolutely joyless fate of Luther himself.
The opening scenes of the full-length sequel follow these good traditions: it rains constantly outside like a bucket, John finds himself in a real hell, and a mad killer with a Gollum facial expression and an almost Trumpian hairstyle triumphs. However, now Luther is focused exclusively on one thing, because it became the trigger that prompted him to act.
Looking at “The Sun in Decline” (the subtitle here serves as a confirmation of the aforementioned gloom), it is almost immediately obvious that the tape will not be very different from the format of the previous series. We have a maniac, an obscure good guy who will oppose him, and several minor lines to raise the stakes.
Yes, here somewhere they gave the dynamics a little in the first half and allowed themselves a bigger budget. But otherwise, the film is really perceived as a full-fledged continuation of the series. Sometimes it can feel like you’re watching a new season. At the same time, the level of tension does not reach the best episodes of the first seasons, and there are almost none of the old characters left (to be fair, due to their death at the will of the screenwriters).
Watching the film can be safely recommended to viewers who are not familiar with the series. The plot has a new story, practically unrelated to past adventures, so knowing what happened before is not necessary at all.
Also, the audience may not like some caricaturism and typicality of the villain, the plot sinking in the middle (late seasons were guilty of this) and a certain implausibility. If earlier the authors presented despicable types and psychopaths who, for example, did not shy away from hammering nails into the bodies of victims, then against their background the local heathen resembles Marvel’s Ulysses Klo. His obsession with torture porn looks like playing in a child’s sandbox.
The titular character, played by the ever-changing Idris Elba, is still the same good old John Luther, with his signature coat, dark red tie and unbridled desire to stop the maniac. He loses his job (read – the meaning of his existence) and reputation, but instead becomes like a superhero – a kind of Dark Knight, who thoughtfully contemplates the criminal metropolis from the roof of a tall building and cooperates with the local cops.
Luther: Falling Sun is sure to appeal to fans of the series, but it may also be moderately interesting to other viewers. There is not the usual gradual immersion in the story, the focus on the gripping atmosphere or the level of drama that was felt when the creators dared to say goodbye to an important character. But overall, it’s a good and quite exciting story about a prominent London detective who has another surprisingly difficult day.
Pros: another excellent transformation of Idris Elba into John Luther, good dynamics and tension in the first half of the film, an unexpected and useful change of location, when gloomy London was replaced by snowy landscapes, appropriate, “heavy” musical accompaniment, a good gift for all fans of the series and the title character Cons: lack of interesting secondary characters, such as the heroine Ruth Wilson in the series, lack of a developed psychological component, insecure villain against the background of past psychopaths, insufficient tension in the climax, sometimes implausible development of events Conclusion:
“Luther: The Sun in Decline” offers itself not only to fans of the series, but also to all viewers. True, the film loses to the best episodes of the show, and this is evidence that the topic exhausts itself
