The Continental (TV Mini Series) Brothers in Arms (2023) User Reviews

A Great Start

[SHU_Movies · 8/10 · 23 September 2023]

This really surprised me. I didn't know what to expect going in, and I didn't have very high hopes for it. Fortunately, though, it's a great start to the 3-part limited series!

It introduces the characters, establishes the story, and sets the scene for the entire event. The action is also pretty great! It's not exactly on the same level as the John Wick movies, but it's really solid, especially for a TV show!

Gibson, Prada and Robson are great as Cormac, KD and Frankie, respectively, but my main point of focus here is on Winston and Charon. The two characters are beautifully brought back to life with great writing, and amazing performances by Woodell and Adegun! They feel exactly like the characters from the films, and I have huge respect for achieving that!

It's a really great way to start the event, and I'm very excited to see what parts 2 & 3 have in store.

That is what I call a promising start!

[moritzherz · 6/10 · 22 September 2023]

2023 was hard to us consumers, lately. In the last three months only the One Piece Netflix live-action adaptation satisfied our hunger for quality.

Continental breaks this awful silence with an extraordinary premiere, that includes everything quality television needs to be.

The episode starts with John Wick-quality action and as a huge fan of the movies I found myself directly invested. The violence is on the same level as usual and the dark atmosphere keeps up the entire episode.

Our protagonists, Frankie and Winston are actually compelling characters with a backstory, yes this is something worth mentioning, considering the flood of flat characters Disney has "written" lately. All in all the writing is very good, far better than the usual garbage from the house of mouse.

The antagonist is interesting aswell, played by the great Mel Gibson, who instantly rules the screen with his presence. You sense immediately, that this man is dangerous.

The episode's pacing is pretty good, and keeps up the whole 90 minutes.

Music is picked very well, with familiar tracks from the seventies and the shows intro delivers, too.

There is actually nothing to critizise. The episode contains everything a John Wick fan expects, from bloody action, over great cinematography and at sometimes even brilliant humour.

And the end of the episode is fantastic aswell, featuring a little shocker that will bring things to roll.

In summary The Continental is a very promising miniseries that comes at the perfect time to redempt us from our suffering.

Stormtroopers?

[samireunanen-26976 · 7/10 · 12 October 2023]

I dont get how everybody loves those action scenes. Lika at the start, they can't even make a scratch to Frankie, and those are hard boiled criminals or better yet stormtroopers. John was in kinda similar situations or worse, but they werent that stupid.

Story doesnt really tell why Frankie put him and his wife to such danger and didnt leave the country or even the city.

I was kinda hoping for this serie to tell different stories every episode and I think it would've been better. Avenging brother isnt same as John, and only him could go against that organisation.

Havent seen last episode yet, but I quess Im gonna be disappointed.

Now this is a show

[liamlionheart-18504 · 10/10 · 22 September 2023]

This is one of those series that actually wants fans of the John Wick franchise to love.

No spoilers however the script is tight and well rounded, the acting top notice and beautifully done.

Overall I was highly impressed by the director and crew at large to start at the beginning before John Wick got onto the scene.

I predict this new universe will do very well as Keanu will be in another spin off film, that will garner more films and series to come and I'll watch for sure because Keanu and I grew up in and around Toronto.

Now this is going to be interesting where it goes in future instalments.

Incredible Episode

[xander-t96 · 10/10 · 5 October 2023]

Reading the negative and middling reviews really lowered my expectations for this show so I'll have to rewatch it for a more accurate take but man what a great episode. With a lot of shows that are divisive among reviewers, even if I enjoy the show, I can often see why someone might not like it, in the case of "The Continental" I truly don't understand the hate.

Most of the show takes place somewhere in the mid 70s and while some of the little details like costumes or sets or cars seem to be from a different time period, I personally love it. It makes the show feel unique, like it's in an alternate universe, where the viewers know it takes place in New York but the city has more of a "Gotham" vibe than a 70s NY vibe.

The creators clearly put a ton of money into set productions as they are nearly all mind blowing. The John Wick franchise has always emphasized the classiness of its environments and The Continental is no exception.

I don't mean to gush so much but I really was not expecting much from this series and I'm very glad I decided to give it a chance. I have yet to watch the 2nd episode as I'm waiting for the 3rd to come out so I can watch them back-to-back. I implore everyone to give this show a chance before you let the average and bad reviews get in your head. Well done to the creators (at least so far)!!!

Mostly Boring

[mweratcliffe · 6/10 · 26 September 2023]

How Winston got started could have been established in 5 minutes. The storyline is simple and yet the first episode takes up far to much time establishing itself and is far too talky for the John Wick Franchise which is I guess why it's TV and not a movie. It's not that the action wasn't good but it is far too sparse. Some viewers will love the 70's soundtrack - I hated it in the 70's and still do - but beyond not enjoying the psychedelic "needle drops" as one critic refers to them - there were far too many of them - we get the message pretty early on that this was a dirty 1970's costume drama and didn't require quite so many loud and imposing musical reminders. All in all its interesting to have Winston's back story and the action that does exist in the episode is "Wiskesque" but to date this is the weakest entry in the series of Wick World Lore and deserves no more than a 6.

Interesting

[jad-stormrage · 10/10 · 2 October 2023]

Plot twist: this is the story of Winston

You might enjoy it but, if they were smart they could have made the original characters more fun, and conclude with them being John Wicks parents before he was born and separated from them and left in Belarus. But yeah, i guess we'll limit our story to Winston's journey and the Continental. Nice touch with having Mel Gibson in the movie, quite the casting.

We'll see what the next episodes hold, for now its just an action packed movie in the 80s, overall well done depiction of those times in the current context of the Continental Hotel.

I'm sure lots of interesting characters willl fly through the future episodes making it a captivating experience.

Great Start

[arfdawg-1 · 9/10 · 7 October 2023]

I had my doubts that my interest would be sustained fo 90 minutes in one episode of three. It was.

The feel of this show is very Barman Gatham and I loved it.

It's an interesting storyline and I'm so happy to see Mel Gibson in a show that has a big budget.

Everyone is just so top notch.

My only negative is that the direction can be very frenetic and confusing.

But overall it's such a roller coaster ride.

Great look to NYC too. Very Batman without the Batman. I loved it. It's truly a must see pn Paramount +.

Start watching today or you will miss a great show. One of the best of the year.

A new cinematic universe on the rise.

[ezio-morte · 8/10 · 2 October 2023]

The Continental exists for one reason and one reason only, to connect the first JW with the rest of the movies, creating a new cinematic universe. And its absolutely successful. If you expect relentless, unstoppable action this is not for you, the episodes have neither the budget nor the purpose to do that. 80% percent of the runtime (we are talking about 90 minutes per episode so a feature film length) is talking, searching and world building but when the action comes, its brutal and unstoppable, just like the movies. The cinematography is great, most of the scenes are taking places into the worst parts of NY of the 70s which suits perfectly this part of the JW saga. Acting-wise I was perfectly satisfied overall with Mel Gibson being the stand-out as any of us would expect. Last but not least, the soundtrack IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE, with songs from Yes, Black Sabbath, ZZ Top and more. I hope the Ballerina sequel/prequel is as good as The Continental, JW universe reminds me of the good old Assassins Creed games but on the modern world, cant wait for more, especially for the inevitable JW5.

The first few minutes looked promising, however the story development is pretty dull.

[fciocca · 5/10 · 26 September 2023]

Not a great start for the first spin-off series based on "John Wick". I think that the intro was well done with some action sequences full of adrenaline. The credits at the beginning are amazing and they vaguely remind me of the "James Bond" films. I thought that this could be a nice opportunity to deepen the universe of this franchise, maybe by explaining the origins of The Continental, seeing how and why this professional killers organization started in the first place, exploring this incredibly twisted, but fascinating world. Unfortunately we got a pretty dull story about two brothers that after years they finally get reunited, for one of the most trivial reasons. There are a lot of overly long and boring dialogues that do not add anything to the story. At times I wondered if I was watching an action show, or a family drama. Colin Woodell did a good job and he was able to pull out a pretty good version of a young Winston. Cannot say the same about Ben Robson, who was very unremarkable. But hopefully we will not see him anymore. The action sequences are just okay and not nearly as good as the original movies. There are a few immersive camera movements, and some peculiar angles, but for the rest it looked pretty average.

Probably my opinion is a bit tainted by the fact that I was expecting something different out of this production, but this first episode does not seem to have strong ties with the famous franchise. I am glad that creators are trying to expand the narrative universe of "John Wick", but I just think that the celebrity of this product blew out of proportion and they keep releasing stuff, without having any idea. I think that they are overdoing it, and at this point screenwriters either create a truly interesting and compelling story, otherwise it is better to let it go and focus on brand new projects. My final score for this first episode is 4.7 out of 10.

Why ?

[ibrahimthyab · 23 September 2023]

This is the first time I've written a review about a series or a movie in this app but this time I'm bored with killing the beautiful characters in the series.

The series is excellent in terms of directing, plot and script, but I don't know why a character like Frankie ends during his first episode, is it Game of Thrones syndrome?

KILL THE HEROES

It seems to me that I was very impressed in the character.

The series in total is three episodes and I don't think that its presence, the remaining two episodes will be a problem for the writer. I don't know why most writers lately tend to kill the characters that give an excellent addition to the series. I thought a lot about this topic and discovered that it is not necessary that this idea is a suspense and excitement factor, and perhaps it was a defect and a reason for the failure of the series.

Fast paced action with a story worth staying for.

[david-clay-freeman · 9/10 · 18 November 2023]

The first episode takes a few minutes to get going but that's part of the trouble with this TikTok generation were living in. If we aren't grabbed by the hair on thirty seconds we tend to move on.

This show feels like the movies in terms of the action. Up close and violent. Bloody is a good word. But the characters start to matter about half way in too. By the end of the first episode I was hooked. No spoilers but you'll definitely want to set your timers for episode two if you made it this far.

Lucky for me all three are on peacock now so I'm microwaving some popcorn for a long night binge watching the next four hours of this one.

Incontinence

[mlorenzen-1 · 2/10 · 2 October 2023]

Intriguing for any John Wick fan, they've clearly talked into a creative world of the John Wick franchise. However, after the opening it drags. Too many characters, not enough character development. Also, has some content not congruent with the film series, but rather for the streaming television norms, which detracts.

This is one of those shows you could just have on in the background while doing something else around the house.

The series also tries too hard to be a '70s cool. Think the first Suicide Squad film (the one that stank) and it's wannabe soundtrack. It also feels like it's copying elements from other series, nothing new to see here.

The Continental - S01E01 (2023) Huge disappointment

[claszdsburrogato · 5/10 · 25 September 2023]

To say that this episode is bad would be a huge exaggeration, but the series had very good potential to begin with. However, I didn't think this episode delivered much. The story is very weak and the episode time is very exaggerated. It's a lot of information for a single episode and I feel like the characters don't hold the plot very well. The actors aren't bad, but some of the performances are caricatured. The production design is well done, but there is nothing here that differentiates it from any other generic crime series. It was a very mediocre start and I don't think it will evolve much in the next episodes.

Brothers in Arms

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 23 September 2023]

The world of John Wick brings the back story of Winston Scott who went on to become the owner of the New York Continental Hotel. A place that functions as a neutral territory for assassins for hire.

In this origins story, Cormac O'Connor (Mel Gibson) own the hotel. He is a gangster who has crossed swords many years earlier with the Scott siblings

Now Winston has been forcibly brought back to New York by Cormac. Winston's brother Frankie stole an ancient coin press, Winston needs to find his brother and retrieve the item.

This was a simple opening episode. Two brothers who went different ways and lost touch. It was punctuated with John Wick style violent set pieces such as the action scenes in the stairwell.

An interesting episode, nothing wowed me here outside the action scenes. Mel Gibson dominates though.

The young Winston

[AvionPrince16 · 5/10 · 23 September 2023]

Im still pretty disappointed with that first episode: everything started pretty well; we witness the steal of an object from the brother of Winston. And we had that big fight at the hotel and was kind of breathtaking and i was pretty hype but everything follow after that slow the rythm and please! Since when the story make such a big deal in a John Wick movie or a spin off of John Wick? Come on! We want to be impress by the fights and gunfights like John Wick 4. Ok its great to see Winston as a young man and his sexual performance and his brother but come on! The story become too much emotional and the death of brother was not necessary at all. I still dont know what they prepare for the next episode but i will still watch it. Of course we have also the killers: the twins but it come a little bit too late in the show. So im kind of mixed feelings: the fights were interesting but the rythm slow down very fast and we have some dialogues and meaningless events to be honest. Its great also to hear the references of John Wick movies: the Continental, Winston, the High Table.... but yeah a little bit too mlch story driven for me unfortunately.