Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

osterj-47244 I didn't really know what to expect going in to this show. I was interested to see how my Catholic wife felt about this show as well. She didn't have any issues with it from a religious stand point but one thing we did agree upon is how boring this show is. Full transparency we only got halfway through the season before quitting because we just didn't care. Nothing happens except people talking. They walk and talk, sit and talk, stare awkwardly at one another before talking, talk about what to talk about later, and have visions just to talk to them. Don't get me wrong the acting is great and the setting is fantastic but there was little substance to keep my attention. I was hoping for a look at the inner workings of the Vatican with a little excitement but found myself just browsing Reddit while people conversed in the background. For a show set within such an old instition that has been involved in so much world history it sure came off as exciting as watching people walk through a garden talking.

ravitchn One of the oddest movies I have ever seen. Granted that the Catholic Church and especially the Vatican could only have been invented by Italians! The Vatican is a sort of Mafia/Italian Opera operation, with mafiosi cardinals and various unsavory characters, much like the opera Rigoletto. But one needs to remember that the Church is one of the most evil institutions in Western Civilization, having thriven on deceit, intolerance, barbaric practices, and certainly very un-Christian things. It has persecuted well meaning people unable to accept its lies: Jews, Muslims, Protestants, free thinkers. It has been the source of Fascist politics in all European Catholic states: Italy, France, Croatia, Slovakia, Poland, and Lithuania. It is very much responsible, along with all Christian churches, for the unopposed extermination of the Jews by the Germans.Still, there are some sympathetic things here. Not all the mafiosi cardinals end up as bad as they seem early on. In fact, the general attitude at the end of a very, overly long film series, is that the Vatican is not so bad after all. The young Pope turns out to be a saint despite his lack of belief in God. He quite philosophically says at one point that those who believe in God believe in nothing, which means belief in God excuses one from real compassion, sympathy, and love of mankind. Yet only true believers in Vatican nonsense would find this movie positive. It is actually a good condemnation of the Vatican. The young pope, played by Jude Law, one of my favorite actors, is very shrewd in seeing all that is wrong with the church and although he is nominally portrayed as a conservative or reactionary his real views are quite radical.I doubt many will see this flick or will be influenced by it. The more's the pity.For those wondering, thriven is the correct participle of the verb thrive.

mukava991 When he isn't dispensing cynical and often profane comments or cruelly taunting and teasing underlings, he alternates cigarette smoking with workouts on high-tech gym equipment. He is cold, remote, manipulative and downright repellent. In fact he has no redeeming qualities. Even his sketchy back story as an unwanted boy left in a Catholic orphanage by hippie parents fails to elicit enough sympathy to sustain interest in his trajectory through ten episodes. Such is the title character, played by Jude Law, of this undramatic and unsatisfying series, straining for irony at every turn, about the inexplicable election to Pope of a 40-ish American upstart with a murky past.The stilted dialogue comes off as carefully memorized line recitations. This is particularly evident with Silvio Orlando, the Italian actor who plays Cardinal Voiello, Law's chief rival in the Vatican viper's nest, who also sports a hideous black wart on his left cheek as if to symbolize something morbid and ugly in his nature. If the Vatican hierarchy is as rotten, cynical and hypocritical as depicted here, then upheaval is surely called for. Many supporting characters whose place in the tapestry is unclear enough as it is, also speak with thick accents, requiring yet more effort from the already fatigued listener. In fact there are four languages dominating: English, Italian, Spanish and Latin – the latter used in extended ceremonial sequences. Law's dry, generic American accent is technically correct but lacks individualistic character. Diane Keaton seems bewilderingly miscast as the nun who has been in charge of Law since his abandonment, but her character as written is virtually unplayable. The ultra-formal staging of scenes and artsy camera angles further distance the proceedings. Fellini-esque touches involving a kangaroo imported by the Pope that pops up now and then around the Vatican garden and interludes with a disabled youth apparently under the care of Cardinal Voiello draw attention to themselves but serve no worthwhile purpose.Jude Law has a few memorable, original and beautiful moments in this uninvolving oddity but they are so extrinsic to the whole that their power is diminished.

General Guttering I thoroughly enjoyed this series. If it were not for the nudity and sex scenes, (not vulgar but there), I would recommend my church to watch this. The story line is complex, but comes together at the end. The main focus I would say is to bring God to glory, and experience it with the Pope in his rise in faith and his love for God. He remains consistent in his faith, even if he does not realize or show it. A fallible human side is exposed. It is not a story about religion, or a religious story. Strong characters played by strong support actors, makes this story a must watch.