‘Luther: The Fallen Sun’ – Some Style, No Sense

A ‘fallen’ former cop breaks out of prison to solve the ongoing unsolved case of a global serial-killer. Directed by Jamie Payne, the 2023 Netflix movie ‘Luther: The Fallen Sun’ is based on a BBC series and has such a ludicrous plot that you would want to hit the fast-forward button multiple times.

Idris Elba stars as John Luther, the main character who battles his way through a swarm of prison inmates to get out of jail, then goes on to solve an outlandish case while being pursued by half of the city’s police force. What’s the case? Several youngsters across Europe go missing and then are either driven to their deaths or found murdered. Andy Serkis portrays a stock-like villain who would have fit more appropriately in a Batman or possibly a campy horror film. If the filmmakers aimed to create an exaggerated action flick with lots of violence and a psychotic antagonist, they should have injected more entertainment value into it. There’s not one witty or funny line throughout the runtime. Not one.

‘Luther: The Fallen Sun’ suffers from lackluster dialogue and underdeveloped characters. For example, Cynthia Erivo plays DCI Odette Raine, who is in charge of the case Luther was looking into and we don’t know anything else about her. Interestingly, “Red Rose,” a teenage technological thriller, shares some similarities with this adult drama and manages to be far more gripping.

The biggest problem with this movie is that the filmmakers seem to assume that viewers will automatically believe Luther is a good guy, or perhaps they intended the movie solely for existing fans of the series. Either way, on its own, this Idris Elba flick doesn’t have much to boast about, apart from a star-studded cast whose potential is sadly wasted

It’s a 4 on 10 from me.