The Consultant

I've started watching The Consultant strictly because of Christoph Waltz and his genius of a performer. Since Hans Landa he gave some truly chilling performances over the years but this one has got me really frightened of the man and what he's capable of.

Waltz plays with his whole body and even when he's not speaking he says it all with his eyes, mimics and body language. His Regus Patoff may not be the most scariest of all the villains I've witnessed but the mystery surrounding him is much scarier than any back story on any villain in movie history.

It's especially sad to see such great talent be buried alongside mediocre actors whose characters either don't have enough stamina to face themselves against Waltz or that happens because of their own weak characters. The show plays well on your emotions and fears but it doesn't give you much in return and by the end of episode 8 you're left disappointed to see the characters grow on paper but not in your eyes therefore I rate this little show 7/10 mainly because of Christoph, some nice visuals and a fine choice of soundtrack.

If you want to watch an 8 part series that:

1. Does whatever it wants with disregard to any cohesive plot 2. Makes no sense what-so-ever at any point 3. Explains nothing that's going on 4. Has no likeable characters 5. Throws weird scenes and events in at any time that are never fleshed out, concluded, or have mush or anything to do with anything.

5. Has a meaningless ending that explains none of the weirdness they injected along the way

Then this show is for you !

I guess this show might be explained by saying it's a parable of the greed of modern people (in the software industry). Thus the characters represent certain stereotypes they want to skewer. But I doubt that was the goal.

There is nothing believable about this short series. If you accept that going in, you will have a much more positive opinion of it from about midway through to the (thoroughly unsatisfying) end.

Christoph Waltz - his presence, his demeanor, his acting - can only salvage so much and the writers/producers left too much on his plate to turn this utterly forgettable miniseries into something special. Don't get me wrong, the supporting cast does fine; better than average really. But the sum of the parts is just not very compelling.

Now let me throw in that I've heard about the novel and the author of the novel (and his other books - highly touted by Stephen King, a very haughty recommendation indeed), but I haven't read it/them. However, I'm suspecting that the writers and producers of the Amazon series must have missed on something very key to the message in the original story as it was told. Something's just off. In many cases concerning TV shows and movies there's already a need to suspend disbelief, especially if the audience is going to need to accept what they see as a metaphor or other device intended to convey a larger message. And I sense that "The Consultant" may have been such a story in the original print, but it's nothing even remotely like that in how Amazon has put it on the screen.

Obligatory disclaimer - Yes, it's entertaining enough to watch to the end. Yes, it's visually well done. And yes, it's professionally produced. But there is something major missing and by the 8th and final episode, I found myself not caring what happened to anyone involved because, frankly, nothing remotely realistic or believable in real human terms had happened.

"The Consultant" doesn't know what it is trying to be and it's painfully obvious. I trust that more who actually watch the whole thing will agree with me than will disagree.

4.5 rounded to 5 stars on the aggregate.

I recently binged this show over the course of a couple days. I rate it a 6, slightly above average. It is based on a book I believe--I haven't read it for the record. I want to begin by saying the plot just didn't really make sense to me both in terms of how it progresses and how it ends. I am not against leaving stories open-ended or ambiguous. Sometimes leaving it to the viewers to interpret or imagine in their heads is a powerful tool, but in this case it does not work well. There is not enough information provided to the viewer to make sense of the ending in a satisfying way in my opinion.

As I have seen some other reviews mention, Christopher Waltz does a great job and I found his character humorous and well-acted, but he alone cannot make a confusing story make sense. There is one interpretation that the show does seem to hint at, but I don't know how to describe it other than unsatisfying and very surface-level.

Some other slight issues I had were that like the premise that eventually gets explained of why the consultant is there didn't make much sense to me unless the show takes place in a universe full of overly naive people. People committing huge criminal acts and the authorities apparently don't really care. The show is about a video game company, but the game they make look like it's a game from 2010. I could easily look past issues like these if in service of receiving a good story, but the payoff just wasn't there for me. My review may seem harsh but overall, it is worth a watch because it is visually entertaining and it starts off strong.

First off, whoever listed this as a comedy and wrote the description clearly didn't watch the show at all. It is most definitely NOT a comedy. It has some mildly amusing moments, but pinning down exactly what it is isn't so simple. It's a Twilight Zone-ish drama/mystery/thriller that doesn't easily fall into one category. Solid performances and an intriguing story make it an interesting watch.

Christoph Waltz alone is worth watching as always. By the way, if your review contains spoilers mark it. At least one other review on here is giving away major plot points with no warning whatsoever. I've met the minimum character limit now.