Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

nzpedals and fear, paranoia, government death squad, mistakes, remedy... it's all here, and more!Max Raban (James Nesbitt) is a reporter with a couple of big problems, one, he's dead scared of daylight! So, he does a lot of stuff at night, midnight if necessary, like... scratching through rubbish bags to get (whatever), on one of his previous "scoops" he gets dirt on a politician, but then, his source hangs herself and Max is out of job. But then, a very-small time soccer player gets killed, and beheaded. Whilst raking through a bin to get info on the Defence Secretary who might be having an affair, he finds a document with "Headless Torso" and "Pugnus Dei" in it. What's this all about. So he goes digging.Gradually, the evidence builds up. He is followed, he sees his follower mugged and buys the phone and wallet from the muggers, and learns of a connection to a shady outfit called "Defence Concerns", so, of course, that's his next call. The boss is Daniel Cosgrave (Rupert Graves), the policy adviser is Alice Ross (Catherine McCormack). This movie might be McCormack's most impressive performance. She is so well dressed, and really becomes the part, it doesn't seem like acting at all. She even has a phobia of her own. (OCD?) and it fits in perfectly with all the rest of the story. The best scene is when Alice "gets" the memory stick and copies it... but Daniel hesitates as he leaves... and knows that he NEVER leaves his keys in the desk lock...Silliest scene is Alice, (fully clothed) in the bath!The writing is first-class, with lots of especially good scenes with memorable, and quotable lines. And there is nothing wrong with the directing and production. I liked it.

jadenitej I have some time for Nesbit, he does the 'Brit Grit' TV dramas well, but in Midnight Man, he and the writers seem to be sleepwalking their way through the plot. The gimmick of a daylight phobia is inconsistently portrayed with his occasional, unexplained forays into daylight without much fuss, then suddenly he can't possibly go out?? Maybe he was just having good days and bad days, but the viewer is not to know the intricacies of this particular psychosis - so either explain it to us properly or don't bother - it's not like it actually adds anything to the story - it's just a quirk thrown in to make up for the poor writing. Oh, and on the subject of poor writing - being told off by his journo 'friend' for being paranoid. Now that might have flown before his wife was killed execution style, but to accuse him of paranoia the day after she opens her front door and receives a bullet in the forehead, is STUPID. Perhaps they wrote that bit of dialogue then moved the time line when her execution takes place...inconsistent and lazy. As for when the 'hit man', supposedly hired for his racist, keep England all white predilections, pours out his heart on the bus...WHAT?? Referring to cutting of the head of the boy as being traumatic, I didn't sign up for this stuff... ummm... last night you did kill his wife, wouldn't that be more traumatic as she was a middle class, Anglo British mum, and obviously not a bloody terrorist. Give me a break.At that point I tuned out.

TheLittleSongbird Midnight Man wasn't bad I thought, but it wasn't great either. The mini-series was benefited by some nice dark-looking camera work and some good sinister-sounding music. The acting, considering what the actors had to work with, was not too bad, and the direction was decent. James Nesbitt as always gives a solid performance, and while I am more familiar with his comedy roles Reece Dinsdale is adequately menacing as the villain Blake. However, the characters are rather cliché. The idea of a broken relationship and the protagonist suffering from a phobia of day-light is something that has been done similarly before and better I think. The script was weak in places, and the plot was a tad complicated and convoluted at times. Plus there were areas where characters and subplots, such as the killing of the protagonist's wife where it could have been developed more. Overall, asides from the clichés and the underdeveloped story, Midnight Man is a in general well made and decently acted and directed mini-series. It is worth a watch, but I don't necessarily recommend it. 6/10 Bethany Cox

toxfly Utter cliché ridden trash. We have the hero with a gimmick (can't stand daylight) a dysfunctional family and a past he wants redemption for. We have MI5 or whatever cutting heads off (as they do) but making mistakes. We have the Government minister screwing a lap dancer plot line, a murky quasi government armaments board run by brain dead totty who you just know will fall for the hero. How many times have we had this plot? At 9.30 I said to my partner that I bet they knock off one of the characters as a warning. Right on que at the end they kill Nesbitt's wife. In the trailer for the next week he says it was done as a warning to him. So why not plug him and the series? Dreadful