38/10
Helen begins a passionate affair with a man who has no idea of her secret identity. In the spotlight, when her lover falls victim to the dangerous London underworld, Helen’s employers call on Sam to protect her. Bingo, the owner of the guitar shop where Sam buys his weapons, is played by Rat Scabies, a member of The Damned. Appearance on The Graham Norton Show: Cher/Keira Knightley/Michael Fassbender/Josh Brolin/Jalen Ngonda (2024). A Tale of New York Written by: Jem Finer, Shane MacGowan Performed by: The Pogues & amp; Kirsty MacColl. STAR RATING: ***** Excellent **** Very Good *** Good ** Poor * Terrible “Helen Webb” (Keira Knightley) lives with her husband Wallace (Andrew Buchan), the Secretary of Defense, and their two children. It all seems idyllic until her former commanding officer Reed (Sarah Lancashire) reappears in her life to inform her that her mysterious lover Jason (Andrew Koji) has been killed along with two other people, so she’s resurrected her old life as a covert spy bent on revenge. Teaming up with Sam (Ben Whishaw), an assassin, and her former trainer, Reed navigates a complex web of political espionage and assassination. The spy thriller has fallen out of favour over the years, but it still has the potential to prove itself in new and different formats. Black Doves came out of nowhere with a huge advertising campaign to become the latest major Netflix production to top the charts in an attempt to revive the genre in the modern era. The result is a really diverse set that holds your attention throughout its pleasantly concise eight episodes, but can’t quite make up for the unevenness of the writing. All in all, it’s a fairly standard spy story with a few pretty standard ones. cloak-and-dagger clichés that anyone familiar with vintage spy capers will recognize and even welcome. The big problem is the uneven tone. The script teeters between a light-hearted action comedy and a dark, hard-hitting spy thriller, leaving the viewer thinking too much to really get into it. But it makes up for it with some stylish, hard-hitting action sequences with Whishaw and Knightley making a fascinating pair of mismatched professionals, strongly supported by Lancashire as an icy, detached M-type commander. The possibilities for a spy thriller are endless, and Black Doves, despite its flaws, is a strong addition to the mainstream, with an interesting mystery at its heart, and some strong performances and action. ***