Post by sgev1977 on Apr 28, 2018 10:20:14 GMT
The Telegraph, 4 stars out of 5:
First Look (it seems they watched just the first two):
www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2018/04/28/patrick-melrose-first-look-reviewbenedict-cumberbatch-magnificent/
First Look (it seems they watched just the first two):
Sherlock so thoroughly crystallised in the public imagination the idea of Benedict Cumberbatch as a powerhouse of restraint and understatement that it is a shock to see him cut loose as a heroin-addicted aristocrat in Patrick Melrose (which will arrive on Sky Atlantic on May 13).
But this is the best kind of surprise, as Cumberbatch puts in a magnificently mercurial shift in a five-part adaptation of Edward St Aubyn’s chronicling of childhood trauma and the substance abuse that became its terrible corollary in adulthood.
What’s especially impressive is that Cumberbatch gets under the skin of the out-of-control and often unbearable title character without ever quite over-acting (a less precise performer would surely have leant into the drug memoir pantomime and given us Bertie Wooster-on-opiates).
But this is the best kind of surprise, as Cumberbatch puts in a magnificently mercurial shift in a five-part adaptation of Edward St Aubyn’s chronicling of childhood trauma and the substance abuse that became its terrible corollary in adulthood.
What’s especially impressive is that Cumberbatch gets under the skin of the out-of-control and often unbearable title character without ever quite over-acting (a less precise performer would surely have leant into the drug memoir pantomime and given us Bertie Wooster-on-opiates).
On the page St Aubyn keeps the gloom at bay with acerbic prose that sparkles. Cumberbatch achieves similar results by imbuing Melrose with a damaged swagger. Most of the time you don’t even notice he’s a good decade-and-a-half too old to play a 20-nothing drug addict. Tellingly, when he is absent from screen, as he is for extended passages of the second episode, the series loses a great deal of its nervy punch.
In a surreal juxtaposition, Cumberbatch attended the Patrick Melrose premiere the United States the same week as his much higher profile return as Doctor Strange in the latest Marvel film, Avengers: Infinity War. But the really super-heroic performance is here, as he inhabits a disturbed and desperate individual and elevates the character’s struggles beyond mere misery porn.
In a surreal juxtaposition, Cumberbatch attended the Patrick Melrose premiere the United States the same week as his much higher profile return as Doctor Strange in the latest Marvel film, Avengers: Infinity War. But the really super-heroic performance is here, as he inhabits a disturbed and desperate individual and elevates the character’s struggles beyond mere misery porn.
www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2018/04/28/patrick-melrose-first-look-reviewbenedict-cumberbatch-magnificent/