Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
FirstWitch
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Kirandeep Yoder
The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
Prismark10
From the makers of Hustle which may have inspired Leverage a few years later in America.Now this is a combination of Leverage and Hustle (with many of the same visual tricks used.) Warren Brown plays a kind of a cop whose team takes down criminals and other assorted bad guys in a way the normal law enforcement agencies cannot.Each week a mysterious Gina McKee would hand over an Ipad containing a dossier of the latest target for the gang and each week Warren Brown would take the Ipad and fail to return it!The series will not be returning to the BBC because of low ratings. Where Hustle was sharp, entertaining and had a good team that gelled. This was bland, a bit boring and Warren Brown is no Adrian Lester and the rest of the team were no match for the Hustle gang.Maybe, this series should had waited for a few years whilst our memories of Hustle faded and they could had worked on the format a bit more and some better casting was needed.As it is this was average with little promise, hence no renewal.
Emloulou
I think what's frustrating about this series isn't that it's rubbish, it's that it's almost good. And yet really, really isn't. It's a good premise, excellent titles and decent actors. The plot though, oh my giddy aunt, the plot. In every episode there's a moment where I'm thinking, 'Please don't say that line/do that twist', but they always do. They seem to go for the easy option in every episode and have yet to surprise me. It's such a shame. It feels like they use up all their creativity on the problem and then just stick a standard solution on the end, one we've all seen too many times before. The big reveal and the flashbacks that in programmes like 'Hustle' are detailed and intelligent are here predictable and underwhelming. Could still be a good show but it's got a lot of problems to fix. And as for the last line...
Tweekums
Helen Barlow is a senior police officer and she has set up a clandestine unit, led by Jack Quinn, to go after the criminals the police can't touch; using methods that aren't strictly legal. This means breaking into properties and illegally bugging them, threatening associates into giving up their bosses and using unauthorised electronic surveillance. The unit is small; consisting of Quinn; Jessica Jones; computer expert TomTom and new recruit Charlie and because of the way they operate they have no real backup and no legal protection should things go wrong.After watching the opening episode it came as no surprise to learn that this comes from the mind of Tony Jordan; the creator of Hustle… unfortunately this is lacking something that made Hustle as good as it was; rather than being sharp and original this felt rather cliché. There is also the moral problem of having law enforcers who routinely break the law; at one point they dangle somebody from the top of a tower block to extract information which surely counts as torture! The actors do a decent enough job with the material. All that said it still managed to be entertaining enough to keep me watching till the end of the series. There were some decent laughs to be had and even some shockingly dark moments that came as a real surprise. The ending left things open for a second series but whether it will get one is anybody's guess. Overall I'd say that it is all a bit silly but passes the time well enough on a Sunday night if you don't have something better to do.
Dr_Sagan
This was the starting week for many series in USA and UK. Not any real diamond among them. Most of them are bad to mediocre but so far "By Any Means" is the worst.There are many problem with this TV-series.First and most important all the actors and actresses lack charisma. I don't know what they have done before B.A.M. but they are totally forgettable, performance wise, even their faces. The team of 3, have the usual snob/hype attitude, common in many series, but just doesn't suits them. No charisma at all.Second and equally important the plot. Is about a "special team" and blah-blah, blah-blah, one of them is a hacker (!), the girl is the ...locks expert, the last one is the street smart and blah-blah, blah-blah, *YAWN*. And they will catch the bad guy in a mildly smart way.Third the pace, editing, transitions between shots, photography, music and (obviously) directing are simply annoying. (If you now a things or two about editing there is something called "light spills" that is overused here.). To put it in 2 words: Poor execution.There is an arrest (in the pilot) that introduces (kind of) to the team stolen directly from an Al Pacino movie were the criminals think they are going to participate in some sort of Sports event. I saw it and keep asking my self: Are these people the Special team? That's how uncharismatic they are.Anyway this has nothing to do with other BBC series like "Sherlock" in terms of fun or intelligence and you can do perfectly well without it.Overall: Better to avoid it. (Or you will lose 57' of your life)
