wellthatswhatithinkanyway

STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

Chris Lemons (Finn Cole) is a saturation diver, heading to the Edinburgh coast to work on a maintenance operation on some gas lines. Chris and his aloof colleague, Dave Yuasa (Simu Liu) head out to man the mission, while fellow diver, Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson) remains onboard their deployment vessel to monitor their status and attend their umbilical lines. But when Chris's line becomes detached and he suffers an injury, it becomes a race against time to get him back to surface and save his life.

Alex Parkinson's big screen depiction of this true life tale received some glowing, five/four star reviews, that garnered some worthwhile publicity in it's promotional poster, but didn't exactly set the box office alight, disappearing into obscurity amongst all the bigger budget, high publicity offerings. And so all that can be said to be left is its critical impact, especially since it has to do justice to an incredible true life tale.

Parkinson is aiming to ground his true life tale within a realistic framework, crafting a 'real time' narrative around the proceedings, which does succeed in creating a genuine sense of urgency and suspense. However, it comes at the cost of affording time to truly develop the central characters as people, and thus get us to truly invest in them and their predicament. That's not to say you don't care at all, and the ending is genuinely rousing, even if you know what's coming.

It succeeds where it does, and the cracks can be seen where they are, but for any shortcomings it may have, it's still a worthy and engaging account of a real life crisis. ***

STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

Joel Lazarus (Sam Claflin) is haunted by guilt over the brutal murder of his sister, Sutton (Eloise Little) and is haunted by recurring visions of his renowned psychiatrist father (Bill Nighy), when he visits his offices. Believed to have died by suicide, Joel is sceptical, and believes there may be a deeper motive behind his death, much to the chagrin of his detective friend, McGovern (David Fynn.) And, as he digs deeper, his endurance and sanity are pushed to the very edge.

Celebrated modern author Harlan Coben has enjoyed a number of adaptations of his being adapted onto the streaming platforms, the latest of which is this full on murder mystery psychological thriller. It's a shame I don't think I've ever read any of his novels, and such not being able to rate the authenticity of the piece, but Lazarus on its own is still a deeply flawed piece.

The central story, while operating within the framework of a traditional detective/murder mystery, still has an air of intrigue to it, with a pleasingly intricate plot to join it all together. However, it's all drowned out in such a sea of manic theatricality that it all gets lost in the mix. Lead star Claflin (not one I've heard of before!) lays it on so thick, over-acting like crazy, while co star Nighy is more respectfully subdued in his supporting role.

It's a real case of more is less, a project drowning so hard in its own spiralling insanity it disconnects from the viewer, leaving for a less than rewarding experience, in spite of everything else. **