Luther: The Fallen Sun

Available on Netflix now

This big screen spin-off of Neil Cross’ popular series is sadly as bad as its pulp-fiction-lite title would suggest, despite the impressively shameless way in which it borrows from more accomplished franchises. Indeed, this bloated picture mostly consists of Idris Elba’s iconic detective churning out impersonations of Batman, Bond, and most other action characters you can care to think of.

Even the dependable Elba looks as if he is going through the motions here, with his character trotting out dialogue that sounds as if it was written by an AI script. The same can be said of Andy Serkis’ villain, who is only memorable on account of his spectacularly bad hair and feels like an offcut from the Saw writer’s room.

Cross’ screenplay is wildly far-fetched, but using that as a criticism feels slightly misguided, given that Luther has always been a fairly unbelievable show. What is more galling is the fact that nothing that happens in The Fallen Sun is surprising or even remotely interesting, and certainly does nothing to warrant the gratuitous violence on show.

Truly, this is an ugly picture for the most part that is an unnecessary continuation of an otherwise enjoyable franchise.