Crime Disney+ Review: This Thriller Doesn’t Create Its Own Heist

A good heist is about more than just stealing the loot. Like a new Disney thriller attacker proves: the main thing is to pass.

Nathan Stewart Jarrettoutsider) — Joe, a suburban stepfather whose wholesome American family life in flannel shirts is rudely interrupted when his dark past as a burglar comes to light. Three years earlier, Joe was better known as “Muscle”, recruited by Diana (Gemma Arterton). Funny woman), a perfectly coiffed yet unambiguous criminal mastermind, to their crack team of con artists for a job that will make him millions and give him a whole new identity.

But the good life didn’t last long and now a mysterious masked man is hunting down every member of the gang, as evidenced by a brutal climax – in which the man is shot in the head in his luxurious Italian villa.

intruder it’s a stylish production with suitably bloodthirsty action sequences (be prepared for some real nastiness – the close-up throat slitting is particularly gruesome), stylish sets and a comic book feel (some very disturbing masks thank the props department).

The magnetic Stewart-Jarrett should play more leading roles – here he’s gentle but tough as nails and the chemistry between his fellow thieves, especially Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Sandman) as the team’s slick, smooth-talking interlocutor “Officer” and Tara Abboud as the mercurial young safecracker Hazard.

The seductive opening sequence has great potential and builds suspense by connecting Joe’s idyllic present with fragments of his violent past. As long as you’re willing to engage in the requisite genre silliness (Arterton literally wears a belted trench coat and black leather gloves; the crew’s nicknames are “The Fixer,” “The Oiler,” “The Right Hand Man”; and even a heartbreaking modern take on war of the stars the trash compactor scene) is brilliant and exciting stuff.

But when we start frantically jumping back and forth in time, infusing the details of the heist with the cartoonish tension of modern madness, the phantom killer hits his target more accurately than the series itself.

Hindered by an increasingly cumbersome conspiracy, attacker What’s missing is a strong script and dark comedy from writer/director J. Blakeson. This is very close to my heart.

Despite Stewart-Jarrett’s emotional toll, it’s difficult to stay engaged with Joe’s personal life, especially with a rapidly repeating plot involving a feud with a local powerful man who feels completely disconnected from another series; An even more open question is Joe’s relative lack of power. black gay. This is part of a somewhat unsatisfying recurring theme of social commentary. attacker doesn’t fully realize this.

It’s no surprise that the show shares a producer. Kill Eve And there are too many discarded elements, such as the time-sweeping, world-spanning story signaled by massive, bright yellow title cards. There’s even a gorgeous blonde psychopathic killer who seems like an echo of Villanelle, despite Niamh Algar’s considerable talent.

As the thriller comes to a close, finally revealing Eddie Izzard’s sinister role as well as some of the dry humor missing from previous episodes, it turns out that, as with Joe, the heist was not quite what it seemed.

attacker has the greatest clarity in assessing the different motivations people can have for doing very, very bad things: self-preservation, social justice, protecting those we love, or just plain greed. But with overlong 55-minute episodes and waning momentum, it’s hard for viewers to stick around until the end (especially those who seem to lose faith in continuity in favor of sentimentality by the end).

There’s talent, fun and finesse here, especially in the performances and staging, but overall attacker is a series of heists that doesn’t quite complete the heist.