A_Different_Drummer

Revenge is one of the oldest themes in human history. If you look closely enough, some of the best revenge stories are in the Bible. In modern fiction, THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (the original book from 1846, and the 1000s of knockoffs) is the template that most tales follow, including this one. This reviewer is a serious consumer of media, with some 2500+ reviews here. THE MANIPULATED is very high quality, with great acting and direction. But, a third of the way into the series, I bailed. I bailed because, in today's streaming media, the true villains are no longer in the stories themselves, but on the writing teams. The most successful western writer today, Taylor Sheridan, has tortured his own characters more thoroughly than any of the "bad guys" in his many productions. Almost to the point of overkill. And to me this series is overkill. It would have made a wonderful movie. Seriously. But the branding in the KDrama space requires the writers to "kill time" at the expense of the viewer. In this series, in spite of great production standards, the real "manipulated" is the viewer. Some of you will be OK with this. And some of you won't. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

One of those films where you wish you were a fly on the wall in the restaurant when the project was still in the "napkin" stage. Did the creator pitch the finance guys with "Hey, I know this is a low-budget indie, but I have a great gimmick. With clever editing, I will make the plot a mystery even to the audience. Even to the actors. No one will ever figure out what they are seeing, even if they see the film more than once. Guaranteed. " And somehow that pitch got a greenlight. The movie itself is entirely forgettable. The use of violin to punch up key scenes, however, is rare and and quite interesting all by itself. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

There is a throwaway line in an early episode of CROSSING JORDAN (David McCallum was a regular) where a curious female asks the Senior Pathologist (well played by Miguel Ferrer) what McCallum's character might have looked like when he was young? Without even a pause, Ferrer answers "Illya Kuryakin." Even for inside jokes, that was a doozy. Similarly, the spectacular series WANDAVISION did a better job of showcasing the 1950s than the actual 1950s themselves did. All of which goes to say, you can't go home again; and, if you are playing the nostalgia card, you had better have an ace up your sleeve. The problem with this nostalgia piece ... no aces. The original was a jewel of its era, not only fun to watch, but (as the PR pak said) all the locations were authentic so you got to see the world at the same time. (DANGER MAN did something similar, and it worked well too). This production tries hard but never even comes close to the original magic. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))