The Madness

Just started watching and it's a 6-8 possibly. Just wanted to get on here and direct attention to how weird these reviews are. Either 10s or 5 and below. It feels like people either love it or hate it with no in-between. Personally, I think it's solid so far, but not mind-blowing. Some aspects are really engaging, while others are a bit predictable or drag at times. The acting is decent, and the pacing is alright, though it could use more depth in some areas. Overall, I wouldn't rate it a perfect 10, but it definitely deserves more nuance than what I've been seeing in these reviews. It's a watchable show with potential that might get better as it goes. Hopefully, as it progresses, it finds a better balance.

Boy I wanted to like this. Have liked other things Colman has done, but this is a waste of time. Some really questionable and predictable script choices and, sorry to say, not great acting across the board. And poor Colman is just miscast here. He's not this kinda lead. Reminded me of when Tyler Perry tried to play Alex Cross. Just not believable. As the series dragged on, and scene after scene of two people inexplicably whispering to each other plot points (why not SHOW us?) it was really hard to stay awake.

Watching Colman run was painful. Always funny to me when non-athletic actors get the opportunity to play action-heavy roles. (He wasn't great with the action on Fear the Walking Dead, and he's not here either). It always takes me out and smells like a vanity project. His mouth hangs open every scene when he's "thinking" (a tell that he's not comfortable and preoccupied with playing "straight" in my opinion). Not everyone gets to be an action star.

On to the next. Skip this one.

Coleman Domingo is becoming my favorite actor. He really can make reading the phone book a compelling story. And that's just about as compelling as The Madness right now. The dialogue is almost embarrassingly bad. They try very hard to be punchy and snappy but it comes across as very predictable and corny.

From the beginning, there's much about the story that just defies the most basic commonsense. I constantly find myself asking 'why why why?!' So much so that after episode 2, I skipped episode 7 just to see what happens at the end. I have little doubt that there's little more than lots of overwrought storytelling and superfluous dialogue in the episodes I skipped.

There are many elements to this series that are well done. But I just felt it was awkward. There were so many things about the script, the direction and the acting that felt awkward. Embarrassingly so at times.

Some of the dialogue seemed so incomplete and so unpolished that I was left shaking my head. It rendered the relationships in the story incomplete and lacking depth. I feel I should have had warm feelings for many characters, but didn't.

I understand techniques to make the audience uneasy, but this is different. If it was deliberate, it failed in the execution. If this is a new style of film making, I hope it passes.

Started with plenty of promise but the story was unnecessarily dragged out with far too many episodes!! Half of the episodes would have sufficed imo.

The main character pmo. He's supposed to be highly regarded and intelligent but kept making one bad choice after another which (I think) helped undermine his credibility.

I appreciated the concept of the show - exposing corruption and showing how ordinary people can be caught in the crossfire of systemic greed and political schemes. And also highlighting the dangers of unchecked corporate influence!! But the execution was a little disappointing.