Movie Review : Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023)
I've never watched Luther for realism. A cop show where a crazy, obsessive giant person chases villainous serial killers is meant to entertain the masses more than it is to elevate the soul. But there was always a reason to watch Luther. Namely to witness the mental health of the titular character wither away with each season and feel a sense of kinship to him. That kinship has been completely evacuated from the new chapter Luther: The Fallen Sun and I’m still wondering whether it matters because this movie is insane.
Not so-good-it's-insane. Creator and television series' showrunner Neil Cross has clinically went off the deep end or so it seems.
Where do I start with such a bonkers movie? Some wealthy psychopath that looks like an Austin Powers villain (Andy Serkis) kidnaps a random kid who was cleaning offices and minding his own business. When he realizes DCI John Luther (Idris Elba) inherited the case and made it a blood feud after promising the kid's mom that he'd find him (you know how our boy rolls), he gets Luther magically arrested and imprisoned for allegedly everything he ever did in the show. That’s just the first five minutes.
Then, Luther breaks out of jail and vows revenge on that motherfucker. I would like to tell you it's complicated and enthralling, but it all just happens in a series of high-octane action scenes that would make more sense in a fucking Batman movie.
Character motivations and good storytelling
Luther: The Fallen Sun is, by far, the most idiotic film I've seen in 2023, but it is, by far, not the most unpleasant. It feels like Neil Cross chugged a four-pack of Monster Energy, rechristened himself Kyle and decided his intellectual property should star in a Michael Bay movie. It's fun in the same way eating a Big Mac is fun. You objectively know that it's bad for you, but it still feels great because your dopamine receptors have been conditioned to respond to a certain types of stimuli by capitalism.
Alright, the most important feature of Luther: The Fallen Sun is that characters have little to no motivations to do what they do. It's important for characters to have relatable motivations in order to create a bond with the audiences, but it has been somehow rendered unimportant here? When DCI John Luther goes to jail, there's no fall from grace moment, no great humiliation sequence. He's not even fucking frame. He's done all that he's been accused of. The bad guy just place a phone call and he's immediately arrested.
The downtrodden, working class guy who busts Luther out of jail (Vincent Regan) takes a shitload of risks for a man he doesn't owe anything to. The villainous serial killer blackmails everyone in London, but you never know what he has on anyone. His villainy is just supposed to make you fear two things : a) wealthy white men and b) the power technology exerts over us. None of this is explained or even explored in the storyline. It's just used as an excuse to usher a series of high-tension action scenes.
Luther: The Fallen Sun does offer you familiar thrills, at least at a superficial level. It gets your blood pumping almost by psychomotor reflex, but you're never exactly sure why you're feeling the way you're feeling. At some point, DCI Odette Raines (Cynthia Erivo)'s daughter gets kidnapped, but the character is introduced right in the same scene where she does. You literally didn't know she had any kids prior. The kid exists to give Raines some skin in the game. It never feels real… but in an awesome way?
Bootleg John Luther
I should've technically hated this movie, but I didn't. On the contrary, I was earnestly amused. I should've felt betrayed by Neil Cross that he changed the nature of his character from a modern, tormented Sherlock Holmes to basically Batman, but it felt so fucking removed from the reality of Luther, that it didn't feel entirely real? It felt like a Turkish bootleg version of the character or even fan fiction to a certain point. Luther: The Fallen Sun has more in common with a James Bond movie than the original series.
At some point, he travels out of the country to a lunar landscape that is supposed to be Norway with a character that hated him 45 minutes prior in order to save her daughter from a sadistic internet sex fiend club. Not only that makes zero fucking sense whatsoever, but it is so utterly surreal for a character that is supposed to be the fighting conscience of London or whatever to find himself in these circumstances that it becomes forgivable. He also wears his tweed coat in frozen Norway, which is adorable.
My point is : this new Luther movie feels like a fevered dream more than something that actually happened to the character. It doesn't feel like it was by design or anything and if Neil Cross and his associate pursue that road it might make the IP turn sour, but this is a fine aparté where Luther turns into a superhero. Luther: The Fallen Sun is committed to its insane bit like Eric Andre and plays it with such a straight face, it is difficult to look away. This movie is really awesome at being really bad.
*
There's a lot of unintentional comedy to Luther: The Fallen Sun. Those who bonded with the character harder than I did (and Luther IS a seductive character) will feel betrayed, but it kind of hit my sweet spot where I could understand it was a five course meal of empty calories and that it was so ridiculously committed to it, that it tasted good. Luther: The Fallen Sun is a great way to spend two hours, but it's unlikely you'll ever feel the need to watch it again. It's just a spectacular blip floating in an ocean of blips.
