Genre: Adventure | Drama
Air Date/Time: April 12 at 9/8c
Network: Starz
Creator: David S. Goyer
Director: David S. Goyer
Writer: David S. Goyer
Starring: Tom Riley, Laura Haddock, Blake Ritson, Elliot Cowan, Lara Pulver, Greg Chillen, Hera Hilmar, Eros Vlahos, James Faulkner, Tom Bateman, Alexander Siddig.
Summary:
In a world where thought and faith are controlled, one man fights to set knowledge free. The secret history of Leonardo da Vinci’s tantalizing life reveals a portrait of a young man tortured by a gift of superhuman genius. He is a heretic intent on exposing the lies of religion. An insurgent seeking to subvert an elitist society. A bastard son who yearns for legitimacy with his father.
He finds himself in the midst of a storm that has been brewing for centuries. A conflict between truth and lies, religion and reason, past and future. His aspirations are used against him by the opposing forces of the time—luring him into a game of seduction where those who despise his intellect need him most.
Leonardo must take up the fight against foes who use history to suppress the truth. A hero armed only with genius,da Vinci stands alone against the darkness within, and the darkness without. Facing an uncertain future, his quest for knowledge nearly becomes his undoing as he explores the fringes of his own sanity. Da Vinci throws himself into his genius and emerges as an unstoppable force that lifts an entire era out of darkness and propels it into light.
His story becomes a mirror into our own world, calling us all to join his fight to Free the Future.
Trailer: Da Vinci’s Demons
[youtube]http://youtu.be/idud-uVbPZw[/youtube]
Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Fun, engaging, entertaining, intriguing. Definitely worth your time to check out. It’s like a nice mashup of Sherlock Holmes and the Game of Shadows with Shakespeare in Love, in TV short-series form. And the first thing you’ll notice is the look and the sound. It has nearly movie-level production values, clearly a pay-channel-level budget, and it shows in the sets, the costumes, the rich rich visuals of the show. Bear McCreary‘s music is, of course, the perfect enhancement for the setting as well as for the performances.
I’m so glad this is a series instead of a movie. I want more of this, with these people. These people who are quite charming, by the way. Tom Riley is masterful and captivating as Leonardo. His style is strongly reminiscent of Robert Downey Jr, either as Sherlock Holmes or as Tony Stark, take your pick. Totally full of himself, with reason. There’s a hint of Doctor Who to his presentation, although it could be because he and the 10th Doctor share a hairstyle. He has a few expository lines periodically, which writer David S. Goyer has attempted to work into the presentation as seamlessly as possible. They include some teaching of historical things, and bits o’ Leonardo trivia – “if you’d just asked around, anyone can tell you I’m ambidextrous” – and I can’t begin to tell you how much I loved that he makes a joke about Botticelli.
But not as much as I love his friends, and one friend in particular. Gregg Chillin is an excellent sidekick; he would be a wonderful Paris. He was terrific as the evil fiance in the UK Being Human, and has a dashing look similar to Eric Balfour’s. He’s my personal favorite character. There’s a very bold guest appearance by Hugh Bonneville as the Duke of Milan, and Alexander Siddig (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Primeval) is nicely mystical as the mysterious Turk.
As for the storyline, many threads are dangled in the first hour, to be woven together over the episodes to come. There is intrigue between the city-states, a father-son element, romance, invention, mystery, mysticism, and a quest. So, where’s the sci-fi/supernatural aspect? For now, it’s the mysticism. It could be that we’ll find out that there is no actual mysticism in play, but for now, it’s definitely there.
And a quick head’s up: while nowhere near as visceral or messy as Game of Thrones, there is nevertheless some nudity, sex, and violence at the level we’ve come to expect from subscription channels. Right from the very start.
Though that isn’t a down side, at least for me, there are a few minor soft spots. Some of the landscape/cityscape computer graphics are slightly lacking, but not enough to intrude. Likewise, some of the “exterior” shots look more like soundstage shots; there’s something about the lighting that makes it suspect. Still, those are tiny issues compared to the overall rich and enveloping look of the production.
Kudos to David S. Goyer not only for the creation of the series and for writing the lovely script, but for some really beautiful direction. There are plenty of gorgeous shots to fill our eyes, and the dream sequences in particular are edited beautifully, so thanks as well to the editors.
This opening hour is part fun romp, part curious mystery, part political maneuvering, and part hero’s tale, with a dollop or two of the mystical in a gorgeous Renaissance setting. Definitely check it out.
I give Da Vinci’s Demons, Episode 101 The Hanged Man, Five Out of Five Stars
