Curfew review – Sean Bean races into a diesel-fuelled zombie apocalypse
Death Race meets The Walking Dead in Sky’s bizarre new series. It’s worth going along for the ride
Curfew should rightly be titled MacGuffin. For, my dears, it contains the biggest, bestest, blatantest one you every did see: annual stock car racing. You’ve got to be in it to win it, and that’s the attitude I very much advise you take towards Curfew.
We are in a near-future – or alt-present, if you are cooler than I – London, in an England now under totalitarian rule. A rigid curfew is in operation. When the evening siren goes off, iron shutters come down on buildings across the city and people hurry home to await the morning.
These people include ambulance driver Kaye (Phoebe Fox); her rebellious sister Ruby (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), whom we first meet careening under fire from government troops through the busy daytime streets with medical facility escapee Michael; devoted family man Donahue (Adrian Lester); shady mechanic Errol (Sean Bean); and his semi-sociopathic pregnant girlfriend Faith (Rose Williams). The only way they or anyone else can escape the Totalitarian Government of Near Future or Alt-Present England is to take part in a huge but secret car race across the country. This seems to be open to anyone with a car and enough money to buy a special black box that delivers instructions like a samizdat satnav (samizdatnav?), with the winner getting a place on the (possibly mythical) Island, where people are free and scientists are working on a cure. Because – did I not mention – the curfew is in place due to the fact that the country is infected with some kind of zombie virus, and the mindless killers hunt at night.
It takes a lot for me to question a setup, it really does. I understand that fiction is fiction, drama is drama, and it is incumbent upon me always to find as robust a peg as possible from which to suspend, willingly, my disbelief. But. Come. TF. On. Winning a cross-country car race is the chosen means of fleeing a regime? But … but … but … NO. And the zombie infection is a sidenote? Come. TF. On. You’d need to countersink a peg into 12 feet of concrete before it could support the weight of that kind of incredulity. Remake Death Race by all means. Put a new twist on the zombipocalypse as The Walking Dead finally lapses into terminal decline, do. But bolting the two together creates distractingly bizarre results.
But we are where we are. And perhaps, to borrow from Sarah Connor – whose Terminator narration seems to inspire Curfew’s own – in an insane world, insane mashups are the sanest choice. So, we can choose to have fun and lean into this Jeremy Clarkson fever dream that has managed to attract such names as Bean (fresh from Bafta-nominated Broken), Lester, Harriet Walter (as Kaye’s doctor mother who cured Michael’s quadriplegia five years ago, then became infected while investigating the z-germs), Billy Zane (God love him – is there anyone having more genuine fun with an acting career than Billy Zane?) and Miranda Richardson (who I failed to spot in the badly lit totalitarian London of the first episode).
By the end of the first hour, the racers have assembled at the start point. They and the scriptwriters are revving their engines. What happens from here is anyone’s guess. It could sputter and stall or roar all the way to the finish line in triumph. I think it’s worth going along for the ride.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/feb/22/curfew-review-sky-oneCurfew, Sky One, Friday 9pm ****
There have been some gloomy forecasts for post-Brexit Britain, but as yet no one’s predicted the country will become a police state, menaced by nocturnal flesh-eating monsters, with the only hope of escape via a lethally dangerous illegal street race. That’s the perfectly plausible premise of Curfew, Sky One’s new prime time Friday night drama. Like Stan Lee’s Lucky Man it’s a small-budget homage to no-nonsense sci-fi action movies, borrowing liberally from The Fast and The Furious, Mad Max, Death Race 2000, 28 Days Later and… well, everything except Call The Midwife, really.
It’s loud, daft, utterly derivative – and thoroughly enjoyable. Writer Matthew Read and director Colm McCarthy (both Peaky Blinders alumni) have realised that the secret to a good action movie, and its television variant, is to write a tight, smart script that doesn’t take itself too seriously; get good actors to deliver it straight; and provide the audience with an event every five minutes, at least. Authoritarian government The opening episode delivered on all fronts, with plenty of car chases, shoot-outs and monster attacks. But it also built a detailed, grimly convincing picture of an alternative Britain where an epidemic has created the aforementioned monsters and an authoritarian government (embodied by Robert Glenister’s sharp-suited, stone-hearted chief bureaucrat Grieves) has imposed the curfew ostensibly to protect the population, but in reality to tighten control over them.
Naturally there are rebels and criminals operating in the margins, with the race (for reasons not yet particularly well-explained) offering the prospect of escape to “the island”, a possibly-mythical haven where scientists are working on a cure for the epidemic. Motley crew The opener established some key players amid the motley crew. Adrian Lester’s timid family man, emptying his bank account and seriously customising the Volvo estate to give his family a way out. Phoebe Fox as paramedic Kaye and Malachi Kirby as Michael, the ace street racer with whom she shares a romantic past and a link to the secret medical trial which caused the epidemic, deciding that an ambulance has both the speed and heft necessary. And Sean Bean as the General, Yorkshire-accented criminal kingpin and purveyor of vehicles and other black market supplies for the racers – but bagging the Jag in a bid to start a new life with his teenage (but equally scary) girlfriend Rose (Faith Williams).
Each of them transcended their characters’ stereotypical origins to create quirky, well-rounded human beings you found yourself caring about and rooting for. And on top of the thrills and spills, Read and McCarthy delivered some quieter but equally effective moments; the soothing computerised voice reminding us of the impending curfew – and the penalties for disobeying it; police looking down coldly on a young mum caught in the crossfire of a shoot-out and promising to “find an uncle or something” for her orphaned daughter. There were a few too many storylines and flashbacks pinging about, and the CGI of the set-piece chases wasn’t quite Hollywood standard. But it still provided a moment that jolted me out of my seat and a plot twist I absolutely did not see coming. I doubt the makers will be clearing space on their shelves for the Baftas. But if you’re a fan of guilty pleasures (and don’t feel particularly guilty about them) then buckle up.
https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/curfew-sky-one-review/Curfew, review: this tooth-rattling, future shock-thriller roars off the starter-grid
Arriving amid flaming gasoline drums of hype, Sky One’s Curfew is a thrill ride with dodgy brakes and fluffy dice for brains. The setting is a dystopian London overrun by zombie-like creatures and also by ageing c-list actors seemingly desperate for a gig (including The Terminator’s Michael Biehn and Billy Zane, from Titanic and here wearing a cowboy hat). There are Mad Max-style tricked-out motors, death-defying chases (co-ordinated by former Top Gear Stig Ben Collins) and Sean Bean being grumpy, even by Sean Bean standards.
Everything is chucked into the blender by director Colm McCarthy (Peaky Blinders). Mario Kart, 28 Days Later, Ready Player One and Black Mirror are all shamelessly riffed...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2019/02/22/curfew-review-tooth-rattling-future-shock-thriller-roars-starter/Curfew: Sky’s loud new series
Do you remember the film I am Legend? Do you remember the film Death Race? Do you remember the films V for Vendetta and Drive? If so, then Curfew, well, it might just be for you.
Set in a near future, or at least alternative present, Curfew takes us on a rip roaring ride into a thinking face emoji. This is a ride where zombies come out and kill you at night, where there is an unnamed totalitarian government and where everyone has contemporary freedoms and where Sean Bean isn’t doing O2 adverts or Game of Thrones.
The race itself? Its a ‘race to Freedom’ in which the winner gains access to ‘The Island’, a location where there are scientists searching for a cure for the zombie virus. Myth or reality, we’re really not sure on that.
As a motorsport fan this should appeal. A dangerous race with fast cars driving cross country to an as yet undesignated finishing line. A star cast also bolsters Sky’s new drama with the as mentioned Bean, Billy Zane, Miranda Richardson, Rose Williams and Phoebe Fox amongst the cast.
Yet I can’t help but add into this a slight dose of realistic cynicism because, surprise, this drama is not meant to appeal to the motorsport fan. It is a smash and grab series that is dripping with aesthetic appeal that is new but also entirely borrowed.
The totalitarian government and curfew comes courtesy of V for Vendetta’s Norsefire. The weird zombie virus that means you can’t go out at a night is a direct copy of that found in Will Smith’s I am Legend. And the race for freedom that involves, guess what, death. Well I don’t think Jason Stratham thinks that that was his proudest career moment either.
Even so, I’m left wilfully interested by what happens next. There is some emotional attachment towards the family and their hound that has decided to do the race in a Volvo estate. There is some desire to see how well main protagonist ‘Kaye’ played by Phoebe Fox, gets on. Will it be worth all that advertising space they used up on the side of the IMAX.
Verdict: If I was going to be truly representative of this new series I’m going to have to borrow bits from other reviews and pass it off as my own opinion, but no. Curfew is like Drive, but with the plastic guards taken off the B&Q hardware.
https://fastfriday.sport.blog/2019/02/23/curfew-skys-loud-new-series/Curfew, Sky One review - belt up for a budget-price Mad Max
Curfew (Sky One) is a new drama that begins as it means to go on, roaring from nought to 60 with a wildly implausible car chase. An electric blue McLaren is haring and weaving through London, with the law in hot pursuit. Forget the computer-generated high-speed U-turn and the armour-plated panda cars. We are clearly in the outer reaches of sci-fi alt reality because the arteries are miraculously unclogged of jams that snarl and belch with white vans and Priuses. Bet they don’t even have the congestion charge.
This London, with its gleaming towers, would be paradise if only the eponymous curfew was not imposed at the end of the working day, with the shutters of shops and office blocks descending in unison. The reason for this restriction on Londoners’ freedom of movement is not specified – so far as one can tell it’s not Brexit – but there is a nasty bug going round that finds Harriet Walter being shot by police and at night humanoid creatures roam the streets, snacking on any humans they can catch. The one snared in this opening episode was Adrian Lester (pictured below), perhaps not liking his beard. It’s clearly dangerous being a Shakespearean actor in this toxic environment.
Curfew is a sort of cheerful budget-price Mad Max. The various characters introduced here all mustered at the end of the episode for the start of a race. The prize for the winner of this contest is to be whisked to a possibly chimerical island where there is no virus. Among the jalopies revving up at the start are an armoured ambulance driven by Phoebe Fox’s emergency medic Kaye, who joins her rebel sister Ruby (Aimee-Ffion Edwards, best known from Detectorists and Skins) and Ruby’s hot boy racer boyfriend Michael (Malachi Kirby, Kunta Kinte in Roots). At the wheel of another motor is Sean Bean’s gnarled garage mechanic known as The General and his pregnant rockchick girlfriend (Rose Williams), while Adrian Lester’s family have to keep on keeping on without him.
Meanwhile, in the bad corner is the long arm of the state. “We need to close this whole thing down before it turns into a fucking shit storm," growls Robert Glenister's security chief, quoting at random from the genre's dog-eared dialogue Rolodex. Richard Riddell, who plays a copper in Endeavour, plays a copper. Curfew makes no pretence to be a deathless masterpiece. Structurally it clunks about in hobnailed boots with idiot-proof flashbacks flagged with captions. And there’s not quite clear why a tech billionaire, like a dystopian Willy Wonka, is offering salvation to only one of the racers. Perhaps we will be told. But it has attracted a fine cast from all walks of Equity – Miranda Richarson and Billy Zane are promised in future episodes – who adeptly keep a straight face. Phoebe Fox, who doesn't normally do this sort of thing, tethers the action to a sort of reality. And Gary Numan, who doesn’t perform "Cars" any more, is on the closing credits singing "Cars". No harm in belting up for more.
https://theartsdesk.com/tv/curfew-sky-one-review-belt-budget-price-mad-maxSky One's new Fast and Furious-style drama Curfew slated for "awful" effects
Viewers were far from impressed by Sky One's new apocalyptic crime drama Curfew tonight (February 22), a sort of cross between Fast and Furious and The Purge, with just a hint of The Island.
Starring Sean Bean, Billy Zane and Adrian Lester, Curfew sees amateur drivers from all over the world compete in an illegal night-time street race, breaking the strict curfew imposed on them by the totalitarian government controlling their lives.
It's all mildly confusing from the get-go: it's set about five minutes in the future where the only noticeable difference seems to be a higher volume of computer screens in the streets. The reason for the curfew is initially unexplained, as are the motivations of most of the characters.
But it was a piece of particularly tragic CGI that first raised doubts among viewers. After an early chase resulted in a car flipping off a bridge and landing upside down, with the characters inexplicably surviving, viewers took to Twitter to criticise the special effects.
Regardless, Curfew has an impressive cast line-up which sees Bean joined by Phoebe Fox (Blue Iguana), Malachi Kirby (Black Mirror), Robert Glenister (Spooks), Aimee-Ffion Edwards (Peaky Blinders) and Rose Williams (Reign).
The eight-part show is written and executive produced by Matthew Read (Pusher) and directed by Colm McCarthy (Peaky Blinders).
Curfew continues next Friday (March 1) at 9pm on Sky One.
https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a26477149/sky-one-fast-and-furious-curfew-awful-effects/