Sunday, December 6, 2015

Movie review: The Blacklist

Notorious and elusive criminal mastermind Raymond Reddington surrenders to the FBI. In exchange for leniency, he offers to help the FBI catch other brilliant criminals but will only speak with profiler Elizabeth Keen.

James Spader (Raymond 'Red' Reddington), Megan Boone (Elizabeth Keen), Diego Klattenhoff (Donald Ressler), Harry Lennix (Cooper), Hisham Tawfiq (Dembe), Amir Arison (Aram), Ryan Eggold (Tom Keen), Parminder Nagra (Agent Malik).

The Blacklist looks a lot like Silence of the Lambs at first glance with intelligent criminal psychopath Red insisting on working only with FBI agent Keen to bring other criminals to justice. However, it doesn't take long to realize there is something much bigger going on here. Red is constantly a few steps ahead of the FBI which helps build very good suspense and mystery into the series. This is balanced with some good action, drama, and a fast enough pace to keep us glued to our seat.

Acting from Spader was wonderful and he fit the role perfectly delivering an appropriately articulate and quirky performance. Boone was a good choice to play against Spader and also delivers well with good emotion and sincerity. Klattenhoff, Lennix, Tawfiq and the remainder of the supporting cast did well with a nod to Eggold in particular.

Camera work, sets, and backgrounds present nice variety and a realistic feel throughout. Action scenes are good with a mild appropriateness for the series. Dialogue is consistently enjoyable, particularly from Spader. Sound and soundtrack are both good.

The Blacklist is an enjoyable and well done crime drama that genre fans should enjoy, as will fans of Spader. Those who enjoyed Silence of the Lambs may also enjoy this one.

With foul language, graphic violence, blood, and gore, save this one for older teens and above.

Released: 2013
Reviewed: 1.19.15
Star rating: 5 out of 5
Genre: TV Shows, TV Dramas, Crime TV Shows, Crime TV Dramas

copyright ©2015 Dave Riedel

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