Idris Elba’s John Luther finally has made it to the big screen.
And sure, many — at least on these shores — will watch “Luther: The Fallen Sun” in their living rooms, but that doesn’t change the fact that this cinematic offshoot of the British drama series “Luther” feels theater-worthy.
Already in a cineplex here and there, it arrives on Netflix this week.
It does so as a bigger, bolder and, unfortunately, increasingly over-the-top version of the show.
Created and penned by Neil Cross, the series revolves around its namesake, a detective chief inspector in London. Obsessive about catching killers to the point where he’s willing to blur some moral and ethical lines, DCI Luther found himself in a lot of legal hot water at the conclusion of the show’s fifth season — or “series” in Brit speak — in 2019.
In its opening moments, “The Fallen Sun” takes us back in time slightly, to a bit of extortion that leads to a spot on a road that quickly becomes a crime scene. It soon is visited by Luther, and although he becomes determined to find a man who’s gone missing from the scene, Luther’s legal troubles catch up with him before he can do so.
Luther is sent to prison, which is great news for David Robey (Andy Serkis), who’s responsible for the man’s disappearance and is a sadistic psychopath with grand horrific plans.
Although Robey had been concerned Luther was the one person who could foil his forthcoming dastardly deeds, he nonetheless pokes the behind-bars bear, and, soon enough, Luther orchestrates a prison break and is on the case as a wanted man himself.
Over the phone, Luther gets the coldest of shoulders from his replacement, DCI Odette Raine (Cynthia Erivo), who has no respect for the law-breaker and wants to see him locked up again as quickly as possible. However, more receptive to Luther’s requests for help from inside the police department is his old boss, Martin Schenk (Dermot Crowley), who returns to the office as a consultant after having retired.
And as you might imagine, once Raine witnesses the scale of evil acts Robey is capable of, she must enter into an uneasy alliance with Luther, disgraceful as he may be.
Cross — whose series adaptation of “The Mosquito Coast” recently was canceled by Apple TV+ after two seasons — has wanted to make a “Luther” movie as far back as the first two series, he says in the film’s production notes. Helping him and Elba, also a producer on the film, accomplish that goal is director Jamie Payne, who helmed the aforementioned strong four-episode fifth series.
For much of its two-hour-plus runtime, “The Fallen Sun” is an entertaining affair with high but reasonable stakes. Like many TV-to-movie transitions, though, this one ultimately goes too big, culminating in an elaborate set piece that is hard to take all that seriously.
Much of what makes it hard to suspend your disbelief is Serkis’ villain, who leverages the guilty and ashamed to get what he wants: the opportunity to commit gruesome actions in the name of entertaining others as twisted as he is. As written, Robey starts out as somewhat believable, but, by the end, he’s ventured into a realm of behavior even the Joker may find off-putting.
This is a movie that delights a bit too much in its darkness.
That said, Serkis (“The Lord of the Rings” movies, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”), turns in an appropriately unnerving performance for most of the film.
Meanwhile, “Harriet” star Erivo becomes an asset to the film only after the case hits close to home for Raine and we get to see another side of the character.
And, of course, viewers of the show know how compelling Elba (“The Wire,” “Beast”) has been as Luther, and nothing’s changed here. Elba continues to do the driven, psychologically damaged lawman quite well.
If you’ve never seen the show — you can view all the episodes on Hulu, not Netflix, by the way — you should have little trouble following the goings-on in “The Fallen Sun.” You just won’t have all the backstory that helps to inform why Luther is the way he is.
Speaking of that backstory, it’s both surprising and a little disappointing that Ruth Wilson is nowhere to be seen as Alice Morgan, Luther’s enemy-turned-uneasy ally, after she resurfaced in the most recent series. What’s not surprising is that Cross leaves the door open for more “Luther” — this late-game development, too, is a little silly — so we may not have seen the last of her, either.
Yes, “The Fallen Sun” ultimately runs a bit off the rails, but it’s nice to have DCI Luther back on the cast all the same.
Luther: The Fallen Sun
Where: Netflix
Rated: R
Run time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Stars (of four): 2.5
