The Assassin

Watching this after be flagged by a friend. Not sure why I am persevering with it. The plot is immature, the casting inappropriate and the acting appalling although the script doesn't help.

The various sub-plots are weak, stilted, drawn out and unnecessary.

It's like Dallas meets Dynasty meets Neighbours.

Watched this as I was told it was good by a friend. May need to reconsider my friends.

The opening few minutes combine very poor acting, bad fight choreography, very questionable directing decisions and childish staging to make what is supposed to be an exciting opener into an amateur mess.

The plot gets no better with scripting and storylines that are forced and obvious. The acting is generally poor (sorry guys) but I don't blame them entirely as the whole thing is really difficult to get into. Wooden characters, bad writing etc.

I'd avoid. There are much better assassin/spy programmes. Don't waste your time.

Just finished the final episode and honestly feel robbed of the hours I spent hoping it would improve. It didn't.

The acting was mostly poor-often wooden to the point that I couldn't stay invested in the story. The only standout was David Dencik as Jasper, who brought some much-needed energy and humor as an eccentric, anxious prisoner/IT guy.

The plot was both ridiculous and frequently boring. The number of gruesome deaths was excessive-so over the top it felt lurid rather than dramatic.

The Greek setting was beautiful, sure-but ultimately felt pointless. It added nothing to the story and came off as contrived and self-indulgent, like a scenic backdrop chosen more for the cast and crew than for the plot.

I'm not sure what the producers of this were aiming at. It is not a witty take on the retired assassin coming out of retirement. Neither is it a thrilling ride around Europe. It is slow, turgid and devoid of both the above elements. The story is laboured, slow and overly drawn out. This is not a great showcase for British humour either. It just reminds you of those Netflix productions that throw money at the locations but neglect a coherent plot and providing run if the mill action scenes. Unfortunately the actors engender little or no depth and, if this was real life, would have happily died the first time they appear onscreen, just to try to save any self respect they may have left.

One word sums The Assassin up - DREADFUL!

As a movie running an hour and a half at least we would not have had to sit through 6 dreary episodes.

Several reviewers rave about the show inferring that anyone who doesn't embrace The Assassin fully doesn't understand "English" humour. Rubbish. I grew up on British/English humour and loved it. In fact I rate English humour as superior in many ways to US humor. The same with Brit drama. Brits do it better.

The Assassin missed the mark as satire, as humour, as dark humour, in fact it missed the mark in every sense.

The story line was drivel, the plot ridiculous, the acting abysmal.

Freddie Highmore is unwatchable, as usual. Keeley Hawes must have needed the money to take this role on, she was not convincing in the part.

The supporting cast is not much better. Devon Terrell in the role of Ezra is amateurish in the extreme as is Gina Gershon as Marie.

The Assassin is a prime example of the problem with making product of the streaming services these days where content is more important than quality. And The Assassin is certainly not a quality product.