Netflix: ‘Luther: The Fallen Sun’ review

After playing theatrically for a couple of weeks, the feature film ‘Luther’ film hits Netflix where it will receive its bigger audience, Idris Elba once again filling the shoes of his famous TV detective on the hunt for a prolific serial killer on the streets of London.

There’s no doubt that fans of the original BBC series – which spanned five seasons, ending dramatically in 2019 – will get the most out of this feature-length version, but Luther: The Fallen Sun works brilliantly as a stand-alone affair, too, a much bigger production on an altogether bigger scale with massive set pieces taking place in prominent parts of the capital.

The action kicks off in the city, an empty office block where a cleaner is lured into the path of killer David Robey (Andy Serkis). Elba’s John Luther is instantly assigned to the case of the missing person and catches the attention of billionaire Robey who makes it his aim to get the policeman locked up for anything that he might have been involved in in the past. Spoiler: – though this does happen in the first ten minutes of the film and has been highly publicised – Luther is locked up for his ‘crimes’ of the past, Robey free to wreak havoc without the threat of the DCI on his tail.

Robey goes about his work and the bodies start to pile up, though Cynthia Erivo’s DCI Odette Raine and partner DS Archie Woodward (Thomas Coombes) are assigned to the case and are trying to piece things together. Robey also taunts Luther on the inside, broadcasting him torturing his victims on a low, un-used FM band. Luther soon realises that he must break out of prison to stop the bloodshed and bring justice against the psychopathic Robey.

A film in the same vein as Se7en, the Alex Cross movies etc., Luther: The Fallen Sun is a gruesome affair. Painting on a much smaller canvas that of a long-form TV series, writer Neil Cross and director Jamie Payne (both of whom worked on the original series) have delivered a solid movie that mostly works. Very cinematic with sweeping visuals of London and well-staged action set-pieces; a stand-out being a centerpiece unfolding in touristy Piccadilly Circus at night, the film manages to rise above standard TV movie fare. Elba is great, natch, in the role of Luther, a character he’s obviously comfortable playing, though things are a lot physical for the actor this time around with fight scenes in prison, one the underground, and brilliant face-offs with Serkis’ sinister Robery. It all belts along at a good pace after the scene-setting of the first third, a cat-and-mouse affair up there with some of the best in the genre.

The script wastes no time character building, instead focussing on the story – and it packs a lot in. Rather than having four or five hours of TV airtime to work with, the filmmakers pack everything we might have seen in a limited series into just two hours and, at times, it’s difficult to keep track. A slightly wayward finale brings everything to a conclusion, though a change in location and plot swerve seems a little far-fetched for the rest of the film’s mostly grounded reality.

That said, the film absolutely warrants its existence and there’s a nice pre-credits sting to feast upon, details of which I won’t go into here.

Perfect for Netflix and the small screen from which the name John Luther was born, Luther: The Fallen Sun is two hours of decent British noir – a well-served slice of heroes and villains that most fans of the genre can sink their teeth into.

Luther: The Fallen Sun is released on Netflix on 10th March 2023.