As the hardest working UK script consultant and script writer for hire in the business, I’ve been glued to Netflix in the past few weeks, watching as many originals as I could. As well as ‘Triple Frontier’ which I blogged about today also (see previous post) I also watched The Red Sea Diving Resort, another Netflix original, which tries hard and just falls short.
This film is a little too long, a little bit unfocussed and not confident enough it its own true story at times. The tone wobbles from scene to scene too. But, the true story is rousing in the end, the characters are interesting and the performances are good from all the cast.
The problem is that story, despite it being true, it has the ring of other more famous movies, like ‘Munich’ and ‘Argo’. Both films based on true stories too, and while this might seem like ‘Argo’ lite, it’s actually a good enough story in its own right – comparisons should have been damned.
The cast features always good stalwarts like Greg Kinnear and Michael Kenneth Williams, but I also enjoyed the friendship between Chris Evans and Alessandro Nivola’s characters, this seemed raw and real, and Haley Bennett has a nice presence, and a hair cut that made her resemble ‘Long Good Friday’ era Helen Mirren.
Chris Evans – the lead is an unknown to me, (apparently he’s Captain American in Marvels films – I haven’t seen any). He’s capable enough, but reminded me of a muscle bound Alan Partridge from time to time.
The action is well handled, and even in the smaller supporting parts the characters are memorable, that includes the villains…
Finally, the film has some nice photography and a good joke or two about German tourists. It’s worth watching, and the film may grow over the years as the comparisons to other similar films fade.
Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hire, UK Script editor and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer. His UK script coverage service and script development service are highly sought after.
You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb.His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller Markham will be released in 2020. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.
You can get in touch with Matthew on matcoop23@yahoo.co.uk.