This review may contain spoilers
Could be amazing but it's to lazy and mediocre for it
It's impressive how GMM-TV can take a promising story, great actors (some, not all) and a creative director, and still deliver a disappointing and lukewarm result.
To be fair, this isn't the worst series they've released in 2024 (one of their worst years in my opinion) nor is it a bad series.
But it's a series that wastes so much of its potential in repetitive scenes, incomplete arcs and a lack of courage in telling an original and bold plot.
I don't understand why they would create a story about hitmens and be afraid to explore this narrative. Films like The Wanted, Assassin Babes, and even Mr. and Mrs. Smith (I know they're spies but it's a dynamic that would work very well with Bison and Fadel trying to kill Kant and Style after discovering their betrayal) manage to bring comedy, action and a lighter tone to this violent narrative.
But here, Bison and Fadel's profession is simply a detail. At no point does the series attempt to explore the nature of their work - all we have are cut-up and overly censored scenes that never manage to create the atmosphere that a story about assassins requires.
There is no world-building, the character of Mother and the corporation they "work for", as well as the services they perform, are mere extras in the narrative.
Until episode 7 - one of the best of the series - all we have are the same arcs. Bison and Kant flirting and having the same conversation about relationships, sex and more sex. And Fadel and Style in a game of cat and mouse.
What bothers me is how shallow the series is and every time a deeper moment arises, they immediately crack a joke and ruin the moment.
It's the support group for people in mourning that Fadel attends. It's Bison's desire to get out of this life. It's the murder of their parents. It's the discovery of Kant and Style's betrayal.
All of this could carry more dramatic weight and deepen the narrative. But these moments last for minutes and in the next scene everything goes back to comedy.
The relationships here don't work for me. Bison is not even remotely the hot-headed and out-of-control character they describe. Kant and Babe have zero chemistry as brothers - even Babe is a character who only exists as a crutch to justify Kant's actions, even that bullying and teacher plot is completely disposable. There is nothing authentic about Bison and Fadel's murder scenes - and it's embarrassing how stupid the scene is where they try to kill the man who killed their parents at a crowded event with a gun and dressed in a giant bear costume.
And how forget about the amount of stupid decisions the characters make?! They could poison the man's drink, but they decide to shoot him. The police set up an ambush but there's no police officer at the front door to stop them from running away. Kant knew they were murderers and what was his first move? Involving his best friend and introducing his house, work and brother to Bison.
Another point in the script that tires me is the inability of the scripts to create connections that are not completely random. This is the case of Babe's bullying that only appears so Kant can talk about his past. It's the couple that Fadel and Style meet who have a problem with cheating that will talk exactly about what they are going through. It's a random character who appears to talk about Bison's family. It's the random attack at the bowling alley to show that Kant really likes Bison. It's all so shallow, without nuance, without construction, it's simply thrown there without the slightest connection or meaning just because the script needs these connection points that honestly could be really good work but are wasted.
If the technical part was still good it would be overlooked. But the direction doesn't stand out, the performances are good and Dunk is actually a little better here than his usual terrible performance. But that's it.
The photography is absurdly ugly. I haven't seen a high-budget series with such crappy photography since Pit Baby. The lighting is bad, the colors are faded and muddy. And the sound!!!! It's scary how bad the sound work is in this series. The noisy, the interference and external sounds, one could swear this series is a college project.
There is a huge lack of tension, the action and fight scenes are absurdly amateurish. Nothing has any consequences, it's all sugarcoated. They try to give importance to the death of Fadel and Bison's parents and all the series does is show a picture of them. The same happens with their relationship with their Mother. It's clear from the first scene that she is the villain and this whole "revelation" is predictable.
The only time we really see them acting like hitmen is at the end and even then they act much more like spies and young people seeking revenge than professional killers.
All of this, added to this canned American aesthetic, the soundtrack and costumes that are beyond caricature and a script that doesn't have the balls to get out of this cliché, results in a series that's kinda fun to watch but extremely disappointing. It's boring, it's predictable, it's lazy and has no personality whatsoever.
To be fair, this isn't the worst series they've released in 2024 (one of their worst years in my opinion) nor is it a bad series.
But it's a series that wastes so much of its potential in repetitive scenes, incomplete arcs and a lack of courage in telling an original and bold plot.
I don't understand why they would create a story about hitmens and be afraid to explore this narrative. Films like The Wanted, Assassin Babes, and even Mr. and Mrs. Smith (I know they're spies but it's a dynamic that would work very well with Bison and Fadel trying to kill Kant and Style after discovering their betrayal) manage to bring comedy, action and a lighter tone to this violent narrative.
But here, Bison and Fadel's profession is simply a detail. At no point does the series attempt to explore the nature of their work - all we have are cut-up and overly censored scenes that never manage to create the atmosphere that a story about assassins requires.
There is no world-building, the character of Mother and the corporation they "work for", as well as the services they perform, are mere extras in the narrative.
Until episode 7 - one of the best of the series - all we have are the same arcs. Bison and Kant flirting and having the same conversation about relationships, sex and more sex. And Fadel and Style in a game of cat and mouse.
What bothers me is how shallow the series is and every time a deeper moment arises, they immediately crack a joke and ruin the moment.
It's the support group for people in mourning that Fadel attends. It's Bison's desire to get out of this life. It's the murder of their parents. It's the discovery of Kant and Style's betrayal.
All of this could carry more dramatic weight and deepen the narrative. But these moments last for minutes and in the next scene everything goes back to comedy.
The relationships here don't work for me. Bison is not even remotely the hot-headed and out-of-control character they describe. Kant and Babe have zero chemistry as brothers - even Babe is a character who only exists as a crutch to justify Kant's actions, even that bullying and teacher plot is completely disposable. There is nothing authentic about Bison and Fadel's murder scenes - and it's embarrassing how stupid the scene is where they try to kill the man who killed their parents at a crowded event with a gun and dressed in a giant bear costume.
And how forget about the amount of stupid decisions the characters make?! They could poison the man's drink, but they decide to shoot him. The police set up an ambush but there's no police officer at the front door to stop them from running away. Kant knew they were murderers and what was his first move? Involving his best friend and introducing his house, work and brother to Bison.
Another point in the script that tires me is the inability of the scripts to create connections that are not completely random. This is the case of Babe's bullying that only appears so Kant can talk about his past. It's the couple that Fadel and Style meet who have a problem with cheating that will talk exactly about what they are going through. It's a random character who appears to talk about Bison's family. It's the random attack at the bowling alley to show that Kant really likes Bison. It's all so shallow, without nuance, without construction, it's simply thrown there without the slightest connection or meaning just because the script needs these connection points that honestly could be really good work but are wasted.
If the technical part was still good it would be overlooked. But the direction doesn't stand out, the performances are good and Dunk is actually a little better here than his usual terrible performance. But that's it.
The photography is absurdly ugly. I haven't seen a high-budget series with such crappy photography since Pit Baby. The lighting is bad, the colors are faded and muddy. And the sound!!!! It's scary how bad the sound work is in this series. The noisy, the interference and external sounds, one could swear this series is a college project.
There is a huge lack of tension, the action and fight scenes are absurdly amateurish. Nothing has any consequences, it's all sugarcoated. They try to give importance to the death of Fadel and Bison's parents and all the series does is show a picture of them. The same happens with their relationship with their Mother. It's clear from the first scene that she is the villain and this whole "revelation" is predictable.
The only time we really see them acting like hitmen is at the end and even then they act much more like spies and young people seeking revenge than professional killers.
All of this, added to this canned American aesthetic, the soundtrack and costumes that are beyond caricature and a script that doesn't have the balls to get out of this cliché, results in a series that's kinda fun to watch but extremely disappointing. It's boring, it's predictable, it's lazy and has no personality whatsoever.
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