The Swarm

A few scenes of activity split by LOTS of boring dialogue between characters so two-dimensional that it is hard to relate to them. The personal interaction relates to previous, unknown events which do little to add to the storyline.

Scenes filmed are very dark, even those shot outdoors. Unnecessarily irritating. The jumping from suggested location to another creates a discontinuity which shouldn't exist.

I forced myself to watch all episodes. Instead of saying "wow, that was great" I was left thinking that something was lacking and I felt unfulfilled as an audience. I hope there isn't going to be a follow-up series.

Once again I almost miss out on a series because I made the mistake of reading reviews on imdb, but thankfully I decided to watch it and make up my own mind, yes it is a little bit slow in parts, but nowhere near as bad as some have said. The story is actually very good, as is the acting, and yes things do actually happen, also there's a couple of familiar faces, Rosabell Laurenti Sellers from Game of Thrones, and Rune Temte from The Last Kingdom.

So if anyone is thinking of watching this, don't be put off by the reviews on here, watch it for yourself and make up your own mind, like me you may be pleasantly surprised.

None of the critics like this series. I do! The book, which I read 20 years ago, was at the level of a penny dreadful, with amateurishly crafted action scenes copied from movies and implausible characters. All this is no longer present in the first three episodes of der Schwarm, or has been completely deleted from the script. No more military saving the world, no more Wolfgang Emmerich doomsdays on the screen. Instead, slow plot developments with small, subtle catastrophes. This makes you want more and is decidedly different from the usual German series you see on TV. And fortunately, different from the book!

I just don't understand all the negative reviews for this show. Every single scene is beautifully photographed and directed. The pace of the story is that of an old time apocalyptic disaster movie and there are definite references in the style to Jaws and 2001. The look of it is high class with astonishing camerawork. Maybe the negative reviews come from a desire to see more visceral action and drama. I think that this is similar to classic movies such as The Exorcist, a slow start that builds and builds. Even here though there are moments of real drama. There are clearly expensive location shoots and all are brilliantly done. I rate this show highly and congratulate the production team on their work. UPDATE: I posted the above review after watching the first three episodes and I stand by all I said. However, the subsequent five episodes all display a marked reduction in each of the elements that made the show so impressive. The photography, direction and editing all changed to become far more mundane and less engaging. The references to 2001 are still there, very obviously so and there are also clear influences from James cameron's The Abyss. The overall idea is no more silly than originally expected but the diminished quality prevents any meaningful buy-in.

A bit derivative and formulaic, it doesn't really scream top of the line. But, at the same time, there is no nonsense. And viewers are not treated like idiots, as is the case in most productions of this level. Big thanks to the producers for that. Of course, here and there the screenwriting "heavy handedness" forces a naive or illogical "drama", but, for the most part, 90% of what is shown makes sense.

A refreshingly thoughtful and consistent TV product whose current IMDB rating doesn't reflect its true value and one were "why on earth is this character doing what he's doing" hallmark of bad and cheap TV will not pop up every now and than and spoil the overall experience.