Palomas negras

A very special way to make an entrance to the world famous holiday. The story is simple and sometimes disjointed and all over the place. But with Knightley's anchoring performance and Ben's friendly face th story stays safely afloat. With the vibrant and unqiue backgrounds of the characters Black Doves turned out to be a unqiue Christmas drama. A spy thriller with minimum collateral to introduce the warmth of the softening forgiving time of the year. Great visuals rich with color and detail. Lively music and strong audio effects. Excellent audio scores. This violent thiller of a spying housewife is a very unique drama that would melt away the eyes.

First, I liked this show. However, it is a spy thriller in the same way that Love, Actually was a movie about politics. Yes, LA was about a prime minister, but it was a love story. Black Doves, for me, was a romantic/buddy comedy with the spy theme thrown on to give a little frisson. I love good spy shows, and this wasn't one. It was a pretty good romantic/buddy comedy, though, so I recommend giving it a try.

Keiran Knightley and Ben Whishaw have great chemistry as partners in crime. There are nice comedic turns by assorted assasins. The bloodshed is the over-the-top Tarantino kind that is fun, but not thrilling. Overall wonderful, fun acting.

One of my chief, and constant, criticisms of so many films now, is the lack of solid and consistent scripts, AND marred by horrible musical tracks and pathetic sound mixing. So I start this by saying that it was a real pleasure to discover a whole SERIES with no glitches or distractions in sound. As for the script and plot, as one reviewer here put it: "Ok if you don't think too hard. Good acting. Lazy writing. Plot holes you can drive a truck through." I wold add- high marks for the humor built in and subtlety of some great lines such as: "Sorry" as the store-clerk is knocked out with drugs. Very fine acting and production throughout, but too many holes and dead spots to carry the overall. Would love to see a continuation with more talented scripting.

I was set to jot down a few words about "Black Doves", the Netflix spy thriller starring Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw, and Sarah Lancashire, three actors I adore, when a conversation with a friend helped crystallize my thoughts (and subsequently cannibalize his). He described it as "fun and entertaining, but the emotional, realistic aspects of the story didn't work harmoniously with the unrealistic action," and that's a perfect summary. I may have enjoyed it a bit more than he did, but there's no denying the tonal discord. It probably would have played better back in December when it dropped, given its Christmas setting. That said, it was worth it by the end when comic goddess and legend, Tracey Ullman, appears as the villain, looking and sounding divine.

This was a good enough little miniseries, though it seems that it may not be this mini as more may come. I'm not sure more is needed or even wanted, but the two leads are very good and both are entertaining, so if there is more, there are a lot worse things that could happen. It's a spy thriller, along with various love stories, and it is the latter that sort of works best as the spying stuff is a bit convoluted with spies & killers popping up from anywhere & everywhere at any time, and sometimes I just stopped trying to follow the entire path and just enjoy the moment. These two genres frequently clash and this series does not lack action.

While this is not his finest moment, I've always been a fan of Ben Whishaw. He is so very talented, it amazes me how long he has mostly worked under the radar, Bond aside. His role here is a bit unique being a leading man who is a gay killer. I've always liked Keira Knightley when out of corsets. I find her to be at her best with more lighthearted fare. This isn't that, but the way it's played, it almost is and she is good here. I don't recall ever seeing her in such a kickass mode before, but she's good at it. There are a few other good performances in this most notably Ella Lily Hyland as one of the endless deadly spies, young as she may be. She is a hoot. Sarah Lancashire Is effectively ominous & mysterious while Andrew Buchan, the only person I've mentioned not killing people, as Knightley's sincerely kind, nice and honest husband is excellently gentle & warm. Just imagine a series in which the nicest person in it is an important politician! He is a true sweetheart. Much like a gay killer, you don't see this much either.

This is a bit of fun and I suppose if there is more, I might watch, but if that is two years from now, I kinda doubt it.