14/19
Helen begins a passionate affair with a man who has no idea what her secret identity is. Helen’s employers ask Sam to protect her. Rat Scabies, from whom Sam gets his gun, plays Bingo, a guitar shop owner, when his lover falls prey to London’s dangerous underworld. A member of The Damned… on the Graham Norton Show: Cher/Keira Knightley/Michael Fassbender/Josh Brolin/Jalen Ngonda (2024). New York Fairy TaleWritten by Jem Finer, Shane MacGowanPerformed by The Pogues & Kirsty MacCollSTAR RATINGS: ***** Excellent **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Terrible'Helen Webb' (Keira Knightley) lives with her husband, Defense Secretary Wallace (Andrew Buchan), and their two children. All seems idyllic until her former commander Reed (Sarah Lancashire) re-enters her life and informs her that her secret lover Jason (Andrew Koji) has been murdered along with two others, prompting her to relive her former life as a secret spy, on a quest for revenge. Reed reunites her with hitman Sam (Ben Whishaw) and his former trainer, and together they navigate a complex web of political espionage and murder. The spy thriller has been popular over the years, but it still has the potential to work in new and different forms. Black Doves came out of nowhere with a massive advertising campaign and has become the latest major Netflix production to climb the charts and aim to revive the genre for the modern age. The result is a real mixed bag that holds your attention throughout its eight pleasantly concise episodes, but fails to mask the unevenness of the script. All in all, it’s a pretty standard spy story with some pretty standard stories. swashbuckling cliché that anyone familiar with old spy capers will recognise and even embrace fondly. The main problem is the uneven tone. The script bounces unevenly between a sharp, tongue-in-cheek action comedy and a dark, heavy-handed spy thriller, leaving you with too much to stomach. However, it makes up for it with stylish, raunchy action sequences with Whishaw. and Knightley making for a compelling pair of mismatched professionals, with Lancashire providing strong support to the icy, aloof M-type commander. The spy thriller remains one of limitless possibilities and Black Doves, despite its flaws, is a strong addition to the genre, with an interesting mystery at its heart, backed by strong performances and action. ***