Oh
boy, was I looking forward to this one.
Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman is
not just my favorite comic book of all time, but may just be one of my favorite
bits of fiction period. The story of Morpheus, the king and
personification of dreams, deftly employs classic literature, mythology, and
history in a way that transcends any one genre. It is a beautiful tale of
change, and it is also one that is inherently difficult to translate into a
visual medium thanks to its epic scale and inherently surreal subject matter.
Some fans said that a film or television show based on Gaiman’s magnum opus
would never work, and although the Netflix series does indeed lose some of the
magic in the translation, it is pretty much the best adaptation possible.
Tom Sturridge shines as
Morpheus/Dream/The Sandman, taking on and nailing a challenging role that would
intimidate any actor with a modicum of self-awareness. Morpheus is a character
that is sometimes difficult to root for, but Sturridge deftly pulls it off by
employing brilliantly subtle bits of emotion that are not necessarily true to
the character but are nonetheless welcome in the move from page to screen. As
anyone who has read the comic can tell you, The Sandman is as
much the story of the mortals that get pulled into the dream lord’s orbit as it
is about him, and the supporting cast here give performances that are just as
realized as Sturridge’s. The plot itself is incredibly faithful to the source
material, and the few changes that are made make sense and help streamline a
story that has a tendency to bounce around a bit thanks to its huge cast of
characters. The most jarring plot development happens halfway in the season as
the story of the first comic volume is wrapped up and the very different story
of the second is started almost immediately. This abrupt 180 makes The
Sandman feel like two short seasons smooshed together into a single
medium-sized one, but I’m not complaining; better to include two stories than
stretch one beyond its breaking point, especially when you consider Netflix’s
obnoxious history of cancelling good shows if they even slightly underperform.
The only other criticisms I have are
minor ones that naturally arise from the transition from the page to the
screen. The dreamscape isn’t quite as fantastical as it is in the comic, which
is understandable; that kind of thing is much, much easier to do with a pencil
than it is with CGI. Certain concepts are also sometimes awkwardly explained by
characters that have no reason to share this information, which also makes
sense because the TV show does not have narration like the comic book does.
These nitpicks will not be noticeable to most people, however, especially ones
that have not read the source material. Overall, Netflix’s The Sandman is
the best possible adaptation of one of the best comics of all time, and I
couldn’t really ask for more than that. Except maybe a season 2.
The Sandman season
1 is now available on Netflix.
This review was first published in the Keizertimes on October
14th, 2022. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment