For anyone holding on to some latent hope that Idris Elba will be the next James Bond, I have some bad news: “Luther: The Fallen Sun” puts (another) nail in that very firmly sealed coffin. In one of the rare moments of levity in the sinister film, the embattled detective John Luther sits down at a chic bar and tells the bartender it’s been a long day (an understatement).
“I would say a long day calls for a martini,” the bartender says.
Luther’s response? “No.” He’ll take some water, and, “if it makes you happy you can make it fizzy.”
This was not an accidental moment, “Luther” creator Neill Cross has said. Elba even wondered if it was a bit too cheeky. But it’s worth remembering that Elba doesn’t need Bond. He’s already got a moody, tortured bachelor with a talent for hunting bad guys. And Luther belongs exclusively to him.
In this outing, written by Cross and directed by Jamie Payne, Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) John Luther finds himself imprisoned for his unconventional methods at work and haunted by the unsolved missing person case that opens the film and sets its macabre tone. His imprisonment and the missing teen are related — the work of a wealthy villain David Robey (Andy Serkis) who film introduces to the audience as such in the first few moments.
Serkis’ character is a kind of gentleman psychopath, with his blown out James Spader in “Pretty in Pink” coif and maniacal smile. He’s one of those villains for whom chaos, misery and gore are the point. David Robey is methodical, patient and unsparing — he’ll even go so far as to befriend the families of his victims after the fact.
At the start, the film takes on a kind of David Fincher vibe, with echoes of “Seven” and “Zodiac” crossed with some of Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight.” Unfortunately it takes the conceit to such absurd lengths by the end that the premise takes…
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