London Spy

A riveting existential mystery. [22 Jan 2016, p.66]

It’s elliptical and indirect at times--and sometimes a little too enigmatic--but its narrative drive is strengthened by a percolating anger at injustice, fear-mongering and prejudice. This haunting drama becomes more captivating over the course of its five installments, thanks in large part to sensational performances from Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling.

[A] gorgeously somber BBC America miniseries.

There are touches in Spy that seem rather needlessly gothic and unnecessarily grim, but they're more than redeemed by its sustained sense of place and by wonderful performances from Whishaw, Broadbent and, in smaller roles, Holcroft and Charlotte Rampling. And unlike so many modern projects, it seems to be exactly the length it should be, with pauses in the action there to draw us into the characters rather than just as padding.

Creator Tom Rob Smith's story may eventually seem far-fetched (or so I choose to hope), but Whishaw's performance as an emotional drifter who finds a focus only when it might be too late is too good to miss.

To say that Broadbent is heartbreaking and Rampling an enigmatic marvel is to state the obvious; when the plot and tone go wandering, as they do with exasperating regularity, London Spy rests almost entirely on the astonishing ability of its cast.

London Spy is a love story, then, between Danny and Alex first and foremost--one of the most intimate and nuanced of gay love stories put on TV in some time. Smith’s precision in this arena is at the heart of what makes London Spy so good.

London Spy is provocative and strange.

You may or may not struggle with the heightened, heated-up filmmaking in London Spy, which is filled with artful camera angles and non-linear time leaps, but you will likely fall under Whishaw’s spell.

London Spy, premiering Jan. 21 on BBC America, is a complex, sometimes cryptic import that is worth puzzling over.

Rob Smith's wildly original five-part London Spy is an emotional tour de force for rising star Ben Whishaw. [18-31 Jan 2016, p.15]

Five episodes might sound like a perfect, lithe treatment for such a tale, but the truth is it really only needed two or three. London Spy should have been a movie. To be fair, the storytelling does pay off frequently enough that I don’t regret having sat through the whole thing. Those strong character relationships feel all the more real because of the amount of time spent with them. And the drip-drop pacing allows for some exquisitely terrifying climaxes.

London Spy proceeds at a languid pace that will either draw you in, entranced, or repel you with tedium. I was drawn in, yet not quite entranced, but the series gets both better (it always helps anything when Charlotte Rampling shows up) and more flawed as it proceeds.

Occasional tedium sometimes makes London Spy a slog, and that's a shame because at its best moments--all of which are Whishaw moments--the show is gripping. There's a gasping desperation to Danny, and like any fully developed human, he feels original and unique, and his struggles matter because they're his. Unfortunately one of the things he's struggling against is a show that isn't 100 percent sure what to do with him.

The mechanical storytelling is insurmountable even for such a talented cast, but there is some satisfaction in watching Ben Whishaw sit down for an informal interrogation by Charlotte Rampling or feel out a scoundrel and potential ally played by Mark Gatiss.

Here and there, Mr. Whishaw overcomes Mr. Smith’s stilted dialogue and Mr. Verbruggen’s predilections for looming close-ups and circling cameras.