The luminaries

Year of release : 2020

 

Run time : 1h ,Mini Series, 6 episodes

 

Genre : Epic Drama / Action / Sci Fi

 

Cast : Eva Green, Marton Csokas

 

 

The miniseries are adapted from the book by the same name,by Eleanor Catton,published in 2013.

 

The movie started out well, I loved the idea of astral twins.

 

A man and a woman met aboard of a ship as they sail to New Zealand. When they get there,the man asks her to meet him at the restaurant of the hotel he stays at. She can't read,so she doesn't know where that is.

Enter the villain of the story, Eva Green's character. She steals the woman's purse ( today we'd call that a very small wallet) and lies to her about where to meet the man, ripping the paper off, because she wants her to work for her.

 

Anna keeps on looking for the man,as he is looking for her.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD :

 

And this is where the leading character became unlikable to me. She has s*x with the husband of Eva Green's character,I don't know why,to me it didn't look like she was interested in him. She then helps him as his wife and her lover want to kill him,take his gold and his name. In return,the man leaves her there by herself,and Eva's character throws her out for betraying her.

 

There was this man who kept on courting her,he kept on telling her he wanted to be very rich,and he wanted to take her with him. He was talking as if he was asking for her hand in marriage,about beauty and such,when in fact he was asking her to become one of his prostitutes! There was no beauty in what she was doing,and no man who had s*x with her on the field,was looking for beauty!

 

I can't believe she couldn't find any other job than wh*ring herself! She also becomes an opium addict,as Eva's character was drugging her husband in order for her lover to k!ll him easier,and she drunk the drink too.

 

It's hard for me to watch or read something once the lead lost my interest or don't agree with anything they are doing. I don't like watching something in which I can't stand the lead and I like the villains more for the simple fact they are not an opium addicted wh*re!

 

She meets the man again,by chance. The man who, by the way, kept on looking for her, and didn't eff around New Zealand like she did. I don't know why authors make such choices, but I don't like it when characters go off the rails,I don't like watching or reading wh*ring stories or drug addiction ones. I hate watching the characters go on a downward spiral. I don't like seeing things go from worse to worst.

 

She doesn't want anything to do with the man anymore,because, reasons. Reasons only she knows. The man still wants her although he knows she is a wh*re.

 

I don't like watching or reading this kind of stories,about characters with nothing to offer, characters who kept on making the wrong choices and decisions, and find someone else to blame for their misery. It makes me hate the character and the author who put them in such a position.

 

The movie starts with the ending and goes back to the beginning. From that point on,it keeps on going back and forth to the point you have to guess what happens when.

 

I actually liked the love story of the villains more,I loved how Marton Csokas' character proved his love for the woman he loved by taking the blame for her evil plan. I also loved Eva's character's reaction when he took it upon himself,when he was taken and when she discovered he died,that was the proper reaction,it felt like real love.

 

I didn't like the fact the love interest, Emery Staines, who was good this whole time, had to take the blame for the lead's problems,to what?! Prove himself?! I didn't like he had to be in jail for a year, more or less, for something he didn't do just to save her.

And she didn't argue with that,she actually seemed pleased,which to me,made her the villain. There was no struggle like in Eva's case,when her man was taken and then k!lled,it looked like to her it was just fine,at least in wasn't her in jail.

 

In conclusion,I didn't like it. I also didn't like the supernatural elements,which I usually like in a movie,but her shooting herself but actually wounding her love interest ( he is her love interest and then isn't,she's very confused) just so she wouldn't die, I'm guessing, a quirk the author came up with so she wouldn't die. I don't understand exactly,how he didn't die. And became an opium addict himself,and then ,just like her,by magic,he wasn't an addict no more.

 

The plot was just convoluted. She couldn't read, but then, by magic, she could not only read ,but sign forging signatures. She shot herself, wounding Emery,but none of them died,and when they met they healed by magic!

 

The actors were great,the scenery amazing,but it failed on delivery.

 

The miniseries are streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Starz, DirecTv, Spectrum on Demand, Starz Play Amazon Channel, Starz Roku Premium Channel, The Roku Channel, and you can buy it from Amazon Prime Video, Apple iTunes, Google Play .

 

Rating : Could have been a contender !