Critic Reviews

With those who find it initially slow, or the relentless monochrome beauty slightly exhausting or pretentious, I understand entirely. But stick with it; allow yourself to yield to both and let Ripley seduce you. There is magic at work here.

If it’s not an instant classic like the Damon version, it’s much closer to one than it has any business being, and it’s among the most exciting shows of the year so far.

Black and white might make “Ripley” seem colder from the outside, but it’s actually just more cinematically immersive, plunging you uncomfortably close to a psyche that feels unnervingly unstable. And Scott is a true tour de force of a disheartened character, so superficially cool and assured on the surface, it’s all just a performance, on top of a performance trying to mask the things underneath that are almost too much to bear.

It isn’t as lean as it could be (there are prolonged lulls in Rome and Venice; an overblown diversion about Caravaggio), but what a sublime character study for Scott, what luscious photography, what prestige cat-and-mouse storytelling. It’s a triumph.

The finest thing TV has offered in many years.

“Ripley” will likely be too slow for Netflix viewers looking for something with more tension, but it is a stunningly well-made piece of television with a pedigree behind the camera that rivals great feature filmmaking. And it impressively stands on its own, hitting many of the beats of the original book and its adaptations but doing so in a way that feels fresh enough to send a chill down your spine.

It’s hard to imagine a Ripley more engaged with its characters or source material than what Zaillian has put together here. Ripley is as close as one can come to really knowing Tom Ripley.

When the credits roll, there’s still a lot we don’t know about Tom and his past, made particularly frustrating by the fact that you can’t really trust anything the character says in the show. But those things are easily forgivable, as Ripley’s gorgeous visuals and immaculate acting make those flaws seem irrelevant. This isn’t just one of the best Highsmith adaptations ever; Ripley is easily one of the best shows Netflix has ever done.

Newcomers to the story can anticipate a feast for the eyes and ears led by Andrew Scott, who sells his antihero well, even if the script meanders from Tom Ripley far more than the novel. On a craft level, Ripley is peerless – easily the most beautiful TV show of the last five years. Watch it in spaced-out installments to get the most bang for your buck, and if you haven’t read the novel yet, read it after, not before.

Individual episodes can be slow, almost languid, and are often heavy with long stretches of dialogue and silent sequences of voyeuristic pursuit. But the pacing works overall because Ripley nails moments of violent catharsis that puncture the prevailing tension, and because it’s simultaneously so wickedly funny.