[ TV ]
BLACK BIRD
“Hmm, you think mutton chops might suit me too, bro?”
★★★★ OUT NOW (APPLE TV+) EPISODES VIEWED 6 OF 6
SHOWRUNNER Dennis Lehane
CAST Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Ray Liotta, Greg Kinnear, Sepideh Moafi
PLOT Chicago, 1996. Drug trafficker Jimmy Keene (Egerton) faces a ten-year prison sentence. Then the FBI approaches him with a strange offer: transfer to a maximum-security prison for the “criminally insane”, gather evidence to finally quash the appeal of suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Hauser), and Jimmy can earn his freedom.
IF OUR RAVENOUS, almost Victorian appetite for true-crime stories must be sated, we might as well get someone like Dennis Lehane to tell them. The author-turned-screenwriter has repeatedly proven his talent for mystery and crime fiction, channelled into collaborations with the likes of Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island) and David Simon (The Wire) — and there are flashes of the influence of both in this tightly constructed adaptation of the memoir In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, And A Dangerous Bargain For Redemption by James Keene.