Black Bird

"Black Bird" effectively conveys the complicated reality of undercover work and what it has to say about the human condition. This is a must-see and not just for fans of the prison genre.

The performance that will leave audiences as stunned as they are nauseous is courtesy of Paul Walter Hauser as Larry Hall. ... And, of course, there’s Taron Egerton, who commands the camera with a confident stride and shoulders so wide they fill the entire frame.

You’ll hang on in breathless suspense as Taron Egerton’s convicted drug runner gets a shot at freedom if he can work a confession out of his serial-killer cellmate (a brilliant Paul Walker Hauser). A posthumous Emmy for the great Ray Liotta, as an ex cop, would be poetic justice.

It is when Jimmy and Larry meet up in prison that Black Bird really begins to take flight. Suspicion gives way to tolerance, becomes fragile friendship and then moves on to something much more sinuous and slippery.

Egerton’s characterisation stops short of real likeability, but he’s good in scenes where Keene shows his vulnerabilities and struggles to cover up his nerves. The more impressive performance here is from Paul Walter Hauser as Hall. ... There is some cat-and-mouse flirting with a female FBI agent (Sepideh Moafi) that feels extraneous, but otherwise the writing draws us in.

It’s certainly intentional that Hauser’s Hall is a seductive character, but Lehane probably didn’t intend for our interest, and even our sympathies, to tilt so completely in his direction. Despite that imbalance in the dramatic weight, “Black Bird” is mostly engaging - Hauser is onscreen a lot, and the production has a hushed quality, with occasional expressionistic touches, that is reminiscent of David Fincher’s crime stories.

While Lehane and director Michaël R. Roskam conjure up an effective mood of unease and horror, Black Bird’s wallow in depravity, wading in deeper and deeper as it goes, proves less enlightening, less thought-provoking than its creators no doubt hoped.

wow!! I really liked the series! The acting, the plot, the music are all very good. Hope for an extension

Didn't expect to like this as much as I did. Aaron Egerton is solid but Paul Walter Hauser steals the show with his quietly mesmerising performance. Easily one of the best things on Apple TV+ Highly recommended- 9 stars

Fantastic, fantastic show, if you're into crime drama. There seems to be some nods to True Detective here. If you liked Seasons 1 and 3 of True Detective, this will be your jam. The two main draws of the show are the premise, and the cast. Larry was SPECTACULAR. He deserves an award, but he'll never get it. Jimmy could have been casted better, because the main actor lacks some of his charm and bravado. But overall fantastic from start to finish. Pacing, music, acting, setting, details, all spectacular. Must watch!

Really great mini series. Highly recommended to those who like this genre.

As another user alludes to, there's a certain cheesiness that pervades this so far -- the needless voice-over, the terrible musical montages, the bludgeoningly repeated flashbacks, the wall-to-wall score, some iffy casting choices -- but by the end of episode 2 it seems to sort of be getting out of its own way and (maybe? hopefully?) settling into something more grounded & strange. Paul Walter Hauser & Ray Liotta are wonderful. The movie The Drop (starring Tom Hardy & James Gandolfini) was a true unheralded gem, and was also written by Dennis Lehane & also directed by Michaël R. Roskam -- and I think that movie (which was very disciplined & grounded) shows the benefits of a medium where a *director with good cinematic instincts* has final say, and Black Bird shows the drawbacks of a medium where a *novelist-screenwriter with terrible cinematic instincts* has final say. Lehane, the writer & showrunner on Black Bird, should have given Roskam the scripts and said, "here, execute this beginning to end -- casting to shooting to editing -- as you see fit so it feels consistent, you're better at this than I am, I trust you."