REVIEW: LUTHER - THE FALLEN SUN

4/5

Luther. DCI Luther.

129 Mins. Starring: Idris Elba, Cynthia Erivo, Dermot Crowley & Andy Serkis. Director: Jamie Payne. 

Who needs Bond? Especially when DCI 'Luther' rejects a Martini at the bar in Netflix's new movie this weekend, as the tweed coat heads from small BBC screen to big, like the order of the 'Peaky Blinders'. Awks! Shaking and stirring things up, Idris Elba is back in his signature role for the streaming service that gave him his most Academy underrated ('Beasts Of No Nation'), just in time for Oscar season. A fortnight after he gave us our and Tilda Swinton's greatest genie wish in George Miller's 'Three Thousand Years Of Longing' here in Japan. Looking over his City of London like Daniel Craig in his penultimate Bond, the epic Elba has played everyone from Nelson Mandela to Stringer Bell in 'The Wire' for HBO. He's been in both Marvel (the 'Thor' series) and DC movies ('The Suicide Squad') and has been rumoured to play everyone from 'Doctor Who' to 007 (if you haven't heard). But no role has held us like his gritty, coffee holding, grinding beat cop, John Luther. 

Who needs Ruth Wilson? Steady on, mate! We miss Wilson's iconic villain Alice and her malice in wonderland as much as we want to see Idris inspire higher as the next man on Her Majesty's (rest peacefully ma'am) Secret Service. And there are hints that after four seasons of 'Luther' and this game-changing movie, she might return in a for sure sequel (but not here). Never fear, even without her 'The Fallen Sun' still rises and brings out the big guns. Especially when it comes to the Gollum gruesome Andy Serkis and the circus of cruel carnage he brings to the bright lights of London's Piccadilly. A neon place as iconic as New York's Times Square or Tokyo's Shibuya Scramble. Now given a blockbuster scene worthy of its stage like Jamie Foxx's Electro turning out the lights of Andrew Garfield's 'Amazing Spider-Man' in NYC too. But streamer beware, this is not for the faint of heart, or easily triggered. This 'Luther' movie is even more deeply disturbing than the watershed, close to the bone series of events we saw on the tube. 

Mind. The. Gap. Chasing criminals through the depths of the London Underground. Heading into the seedy underworld of one of the world's most famous cities that you can't see from The Shard. 'Luther-The Fallen Sun' is all broken glass everywhere, popping the trunk. And one daredevil like prison break could even turn the map of Michael Schofield's back upside down. All as director Jamie Payne brings the pain and also shows a black mirror to those living room evils hiding behind a screen. In an all too complicit world that has torture porn going viral on the dark web and trolls running rampant. There's sickening scenes here amongst the big blockbuster effects that bring home to you just how wrong this world is right now. You'll want to turn away, but we mustn't ignore the fact that the kind of stuff that's punctuated in this movie is being perpetrated in a slimy society that creeps behind the curtain or computer. 

Running blood-red like the DCI's tie, this hard to handle movie is no soft Bond audition. It's its own formidable franchise that's just taken its giant step. The sense of scale of this movie also put in cinemas is worthy of more than your laptop screens. As 'Luther' heads for the multiplex and a frozen tundra of a 'Snowman like (no, not the Raymond Briggs one) formidable, freezing and frightening finale. But it's the influential Idris' grit, gravitas and grace that grounds this breaking picture. Especially his lovely reunion with boss Dermot Crowley (save me a pint). But even with him and Serkis' slick and sick villain, played up as much as that coiffured hair, it's 'Harriet' and 'Widows' star Cynthia Erivo who steals the show. Hot on the tail of not just Andy's megalomaniac villain high on his own supply of dealing 'Se7en' like punishment for the social media revealed sins of those forced to do his bidding (speaking of 'Black Mirror'). But also the fallen son of Luther too. Blackmail may be on the cards here, but you won't have to be forced to watch this one. Even if you do hide behind your couch cushions for some scenes. 'The Fallen Sun' brings a new day of reckoning for Luther. In big-budget bright lights that illuminate all the darkness. Now is no time to let this franchise die. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'Luther', 'Line Of Duty', 'Whatever the next James Bond movie is called.'