Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere
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Movie Reviews of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere
Movie Review: Neverwhere is AWESOME!
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw Neverwhere back in 1998-99 when Stardust was released and it was so cool! Talk about modern fairy tales with twists and turns, romance, sexy chicness, and amazing visuals that will astonish as much as entertain. I have been waiting for this to come out on DVD for quite a long time, and it's finally here!Movie Review: Fun and fantastic
Summary: 5 Stars
Love Gaiman's work and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the "original" version of Neverwhere. Read the book too!Movie Review: Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere": interesting, not captivating
Summary: 4 Stars
Apparently in England unless you are doing a period piece where everybody gets to dress up you can forget about getting a budget that will give your mini-series the production values it deserves. Such is the case with "Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere," which proves that things have not progressed much beyond the "Doctor Who" stage when it comes to dressing up a show that would be categorized as science fiction/fantasy. So the key thing to know going into watching "Neverwhere" on DVD is that your high expectations given Gaiman's reputation are going to be dashed mainly because of how cheap and cheezy the production looks. But "Neverwhere" embraces this limitation and camp things up to hold things together, even though the sets were lit for film and short on video (go figure).
In the first of the six episodes collected on these two DVDS, Richard (Gary Bakewell) is walking his fianceé, Jessica (Elizabeth Marmur), home one night when he comes across an injured young woman named Door (Laura Fraser). Despite his girlfriend's protests, Richard lends a helping hand and quickly discovers he is in way over his head. Door is part of a secret society that lives in London Below, in an underground world that people living above ground know nothing about. But by helping Door, Richard becomes one of the misplaced, entering the world of London Below where he tries to help Door, who is basically some sort of fairy princess with magic powers, in her search to find out who murdered her family.
Thus, Richard is introduced to a strange world and even stranger characters, which only serves to make Richard as the main character look rather dull in comparison. In addition to the engaging rogue the Marquis de Carabas (Paterson Joseph) there is the Earl of Earl's Court (Freddie Jones), Hunter (Tanya Moodie), and the Angel Islington (Peter Capaldi). However, the most intriguing characters are the eternal assassin tag team of Mr. Croup (Hywel Bennett) and Mr. Vandemaar (Clive Russell), who are the ones that killed Door's family and are always looking for another assignment. They are as interesting as the hero is dull, and some of the best bits in the show are when they argue out the historical accuracy of past jobs.
As Gaiman explains in an interview, he took a large degree of inspiration from the London Tube system. while even those with a limited knowledge of London should recognize the name Old Bailey (Trevor Peacock), although not the character with that name. But Gaiman brings in bits and pieces from lots of disparate sources (Marquis de Carabas is the title given by Puss in Boots to his master) and the creator also gets props for doing all those commentary tracks (it is the basis for my final decision to round up on the rating). After all, he really is the only one who understands everything that is going on, which is why you best change to enjoy "Neverwhere" is the third time you watch it after the original viewing and the second time through with the commentary tracks. There are lots of ideas being tossed about here, and why the production falls well short of being captivating, I think on balance it is fairly interesting.
Gaiman wrote a novel based on the "Neverwhere" mini-series, which certainly makes sense given the limitations of the production, and while I have not yet read it I can appreciate that it would be a lot stronger than what we see in these six episodes. When a creator wants to set the record straight, as was the case with Joss Whedon restoring "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" after enduring the campy movie made from his script, attention should be paid. As for whether you should start with the book or the mini-series, I would vote for the latter, because I have no reason to believe that after reading Gaiman's "Neverwhere" novel that watching it would be exceedingly disappointing. At least if you go to the novel second you will know what everybody looks like as the story plays out in your imagination.
Movie Review: Neverwhere is finally on DVD!
Summary: 4 Stars
After seven years, Neverwhere is finally available on DVD, and can be found on major shopping sites like Amazon. I'm sure many of you heard of it, but much fewer have seen it. This fascinating 1996 BBC mini-series was created by Mr. Neil Gaiman, accomplished and acclaimed author of American Gods, Coraline and Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett) among others, and co-written by Gaiman and the wonderful British comedian Lenny Henry. Gaiman fans such as myself have waited for quite some time to see this series introduced to American audiences - and since Gaiman is now finally breaking ground in the States (American Gods actually won the Hugo award, and was an international bestseller) this seems like the perfect time. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a video of the series a couple of years back, but those are quite rare. If you love Neil's work, take the chance to finally see this lovely piece of work.Neverwhere is a highly imaginative story of urban legend, rich with Gaiman's special brand of British black humor. The script is really wonderful, and Henry helps with his own experience in screenplay writing. Acting is terrific by everyone involved - I loved Gary Bakewell (frequent Paul McCartney impersonator on various BBC tele-biographies) as Richard Mayhew, the ordinary Englishman drawn into a strange adventure underground, and many other accomplished British actors - such as Laura Fraser, Trevor Peacock, Freddie Jones and Peter Capaldi - give a great performance. Unfortunately, the series suffers from the same problems shared by most British TV series - a budget lower than that of one episode of `Dharma and Greg'. Therefore, the scenery, though highly inventive and original, doesn't look very impressive. Dewi Humphreys directs like he would direct a soap opera or a murder mystery, and though the directing of the dialogue is flawless, the action scenes are immensely disappointing, especially the `Beast of England' battle, which is incredibly unconvincing.
Despite these weaknesses, though, the series is still well worth watching, especially if you're fond of the genre, and also if you're fond of British television. A word on two great artists who contributed much to the series: Dave McKean, for one, the great artist who collaborated with Gaiman in works like `The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch', `Black Orchid' and Coraline, created an astounding opening sequence to every episode, which is a fascinating piece of work by itself; if you enjoy his work on such graphic novels as Arkham Asylum, Cages and his covers for Neil's Sandman series, the DVD is worth it just for this one sequence. Secondly, the brilliant Mr. Brian Eno, the inventor of Ambient music and musical collaborator of the likes of David Byrne, David Bowie and Robert Fripp, supplies the wonderful score to the series, very eerie and atmospheric synthesized music. Thank god for that, because without him we'd probably have basic British TV music, which tends to be quite awful - and Eno's sound really adds a lot to the atmosphere of the story.
It's important that, if you read and enjoyed the novel Neverwhere, you won't approach this series expecting Hollywood - or even modern American television - production values, because you'll be disappointed. A movie version of this nature, in collaboration with Jim Henson co, has been in talks for some time, but it doesn't seem very likely. If fantasy films are to you special effects and big battle scenes, you probably won't be impressed by Neverwhere. If you love fantasy literature, though, and especially Gaiman's work, you'll find Neverwhere highly rewarding. It's very entertaining, and very imaginative. And in the end, imagination is what fantasy is all about. Isn't it?
Movie Review: BBC does it again
Summary: 4 Stars
My friends and I have been Gaiman fans for quite some time. When we heard that Neverwhere was on DVD and produced by BBC, we wanted it instantly. Neverwhere was the first book of his that I read and I fell in love with it instantly, so I had high expectations when I finally got the DVD. I knew that with the book so wonderful, it had a lot to live up to.
My first impression upon seeing the very first scene was to burst out in hysterical laughter. With the hand-held lights and the dramatic, "Ooh! Drama! So dark! So spooky! Look! I suddenly appear and disappear! I'm out to kill you!" feel to it, who couldn't laugh? As it continued, my friends and I came to the conclusion that you had to be on some sort of drug or medication to watch it, it was that trippy. There are many times throughout the episodes where the situation stuck us as hilarious even when it really shouldn't have.
However, I will say this for it. It's an excellent source for entertainment. The Marquis de Carabas is absolutely brilliant and on the mark, a perfect casting; Richard Mayhew can't stop complaining, true to character; and the Angel Islington will have you nearly screaming. Watch out for that age-old song, "Heaven, I'm In Heaven," it'll haunt even your nightmares and send them screaming. It definitely has that Neverwhere feel to it, and though at times it can be corny and you can definitely tell what era it was made in, I was greatly satisfied with it and would gladly watch it again.
It also wouldn't hurt to watch the Gaiman interview in the Special Features. It gives insights into the book and episodes that you wouldn't have known before unless you did your homework. And it is equally entertaining, guarenteed.