Netflix<\/p>\n
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A scene from the three-part documentary Depp v. Heard.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Netflix<\/cite><\/p>\n Too bad if you avoided the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial in 2022 but were hoping for a postscript that eventually explained the toxic legal car crash, because this popular documentary series fails that bedrock test. The headline-making celebrity conflagration between the former husband and wife centred on accusations of him committing domestic violence. Depp v. Heard<\/em> doesn\u2019t revisit the case, it comes closer to recreating it \u2013 the faults it belatedly hints at are bafflingly evoked across the show itself.<\/p>\n Compiled by British documentarian Emma Cooper, who has directed numerous Louis Theroux forays, these three episodes are almost completely shorn of retrospective analysis or expert opinion. The aim is to live in the trial\u2019s moment, specifically the discombobulating version of the case that took hold through social media. The narrative edits together Depp and Heard\u2019s testimony, putting it side by side to emphasise the case\u2019s contradictory foundation, but beyond that simple tactic it struggles to provide clarification.<\/p>\n Some of the exclusions are baffling. Many of the matters heard in the Virginia courtroom had previously been tried two years prior, when Depp sued the publishers of The Sun<\/em> newspaper in London for libel. At the London trial, a High Court judge ruled that most of the reports of Depp engaging in domestic violence against Heard were \u201csubstantially true\u201d.<\/p>\n However, in Depp v. Heard, <\/em>you can view the participants, and even taking into account the different jurisdictions, this seems germane. It\u2019s as if Cooper and her editors wanted the simplest tale possible.<\/p>\n The story goes from testimony to the online commentary that festered around the case; a pro-Depp hashtag on TikTok accumulated 20 billion views. By illustrating the ludicrous, often biased commentators who were almost entirely pro-Depp \u2013 one is repeatedly shown wearing a Deadpool facemask \u2013 the documentary amplifies their coverage again, so that the ridicule and abuse is revitalised. Cooper tries to balance this with cautionary text screens about Heard\u2019s evidence, but the lack of context becomes damning.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a shallowness on offer here that plays to the cheap seats, with Heard often framed as a quintessential Hollywood starlet through clips from The Rum Diary<\/em>, the 2011 film on which the two met and fell in love. Netflix\u2019s true crime documentaries have often been little more than gory historic recaps, but Depp v. Heard<\/em> is a contemporary work touching on the #MeToo movement and misogyny and should be better. It\u2019s only with 12 minutes left that the story acknowledges reports that the online torrent was built on bot campaigns. Something so pivotal shouldn\u2019t be the final twist of this documentary, but rather the starting point.<\/p>\n Do better, Netflix. Much better.<\/p>\n Invasion (season 2) \u2605\u2605\u2605<\/strong> Shioli Kutsuna as grieving former communications expert Mitsuki in Invasion.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Apple TV+<\/cite><\/p>\n Everyone knows Rule 1 of the streaming age: if you aren\u2019t enjoying the show, move on. But don\u2019t forget Rule 1B: you can always come back if the show improves. In 2021, I struggled with the first season of this science-fiction series, which actually took too long to get to the titular alien attack. Creators Simon Kinberg (the X-Men<\/em> franchise) and David Weil (Hunters<\/em>) over-compensated with the character development for five different plot strands.<\/p>\n The second season of Invasion<\/em> is still studied in its pacing, but the circumstances have gained traction: otherworldly ships dot the globe, amorphous creatures infest some areas, and the atmosphere is being terraformed. The opening recap and a little reading can get you up to speed, with the four remaining storylines (RIP to Sam Neill\u2019s sheriff) benefiting from Apple\u2019s as ever excellent production values.<\/p>\n Different leads are stress-testing scenarios, with Golshifteh Farahani\u2019s paranoid mother, Aneesha, trying to keep her children safe as civil order collapses in Canada. The stand-out, however, is Shioli Kutsuna\u2019s Mitsuki, a grieving former communications expert for Japan\u2019s space agency, whose invaluable contact with the alien entity now puts her at the centre of an Arrival<\/em>-like mystery. Kutsuna\u2019s performance, framed by trauma and wonder, is compelling. She earns this still unfolding series a second chance.<\/p>\n Moving<\/strong> The Winter King<\/strong> The young Arthur (Iain De Caestecker) and High King Uther (Eddie Marsan) in The Winter King (2023).<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Stan<\/cite><\/p>\n The latest British take on the legend of King Arthur begins with Iain De Caestecker\u2019s young warrior and bastard son of the despotic High King Uther Pendragon (Eddie Marsan) being sent into exile. The plot moves from fifth century grimness, to idyllic young love at Avalon, and back to well-worn machinations. There\u2019s the clang of metal on metal, but also someone knocks on a wooden door and says, \u201cGot a minute?\u201d It\u2019s not so much a mess as an overly obliging carry-all, although Nathaniel Martello-White does add gravitas as the powerful druid Merlin.<\/p>\n Kandahar<\/strong> Gerard Butler in Kandahar.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Hopper Stone<\/cite><\/p>\n Gerard Butler has been focusing on mid-level action films for a decade now, starting with Olympus Has Fallen<\/em> in 2013. Several have been hits, a few have been rewarding to run-and-gun movie devotees, but it\u2019s hard not to see his lucrative stint slowly receding into the mundane. What\u2019s most disappointing about Kandahar<\/em>, where Butler plays a freelance contractor for the CIA who takes risky jobs in the Middle East to pay his daughter\u2019s college bills, is the lack of actual action. Contemplative is not the ideal state for a Gerard Butler flick.<\/p>\n
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Disney+
With trace elements of the X-Men franchise and Heroes<\/em>, this South Korean drama is built around successive generations of super-powered individuals: the parents who once worked in covert espionage operations and their teenage children, who are hiding the abilities they have inherited behind a high school student veneer. Superhero origin stories are an overly familiar vehicle, but the tonal flips of this narratively busy series \u2013 high tension and silliness can be in close contact \u2013 keep it moving along as the plotting gains momentum.<\/p>\n
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