MovieChat Forums > The Veil (2024) Discussion > First two episodes are interesting, but ...

First two episodes are interesting, but a lot like Homeland or other Middle Eastern centric terrorist dramas.

posted 7 months ago by TrentnQuarantino (9187)
5 replies | jump to latest

I've gained a real respect for Elizabeth Moss' work. She can really disappear into a role and perform it well, and she chooses good work.

With this I'm finding her British accent a little eyebrow raising. It's not bad, but it does stand out, as well as her, or her character's behavior.

The story is about her finding and investigating a female leader of ISIS. So far we have been introduced to her character, Imogen Salter, a name she chose herself for her cover, and her quarry, Adilah El Idrissi , played by Yumna Marwan, a Lebanese actress.

I am not sure ISIS really has any female leaders in reality ( pretty sure not ), or that if a writer wanted to do a meaningful story about ISIS that making it about a female ISIS leader would have any weight.

There is a lot of cliches, included the things like when the local is in France they show the Eiffel Tower, and when in Turkey they show the Bluie Mosque.

ISIS and Islamic extremist radicalism is something we know very little about, with the holes being filled with what we are told about it on the news, and mostly what we see in movies.

So far I'm finding this interesting, and want to keep watching it, but I am not sure it really has anything to say but to fill the audience's heads with images of dubious validity.

Also playing in this series is Josh Charles, probably the most well known for playing lawyer Will Gardner in "The Good Wife", as a know it all super Type-A American intelligence operative.

[–] 4Freedom (183) 7 months ago

I just watched the first episode and I am finding, as usual, the writing to be lacking. Actors, cinematography, choreography, and stunts are just fine, but it seems to be the same as every other show these days--like it was written by someone who doesn't know how the world actually works and people actually behave. If you have to stop and say, "no, that's bullshit," more than three times in the first episode, it isn't a good sign.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (9187) 7 months ago

Any examples of that you can think of?

[–] letess (1513) 6 months ago

Homeland S1 was a phenomenon. The only comparison that could be made to The Veil is the photo of Elizabeth Moss with a backpack looking back much like the one with Carrie in a headscarf looking back. Homeland S1 had excellent writing with a great plot - an American soldier held prisoner recently released had been radicalized - but it was Carrie who was formidable. It’s not in the writing in The Veil that Moss is. You are told that she figures things out. She has intuition. If you watch The Veil because there’s not much on and maybe it can be entertaining is fine, but in no way can anyone compare this with Homeland. And Josh is good at being obstinate and American. You can’t compare Moss with Danes either. I loved Moss as Peggy but I’m not a big fan. I am always teetering - is she really good, no she’s not that good - she’s kind of just ok. Why am I watching her and I start to mentally recast.

[–] TrentnQuarantino (9187) 6 months ago

Peggy was Mad Men and she was really great in that, and many other series.

I get that you like Homeland, so do I. But you don't have to get your knickers in a twist and all defensive because it is mentioned in the same comment as something else.

I am not comparing The Veil with Homeland, just saying they are similar in genre and the worlds they inhabit. Funny about Homeland, for me, it took me forever, literally years to finish Season 1 when I started watching it, and it was only because I ran out of other things to watch that I went back to it. It was after Season 3 that Homeland started to get progressively better to me right up to the end, though I don't know why they had to kill off Max. Should I dare to weigh in on differences Homeland, aside from the bizarre idea of Carrie Matheson rising to the top levels of the CIA with whatever mental wacko she had, the themes and plots were top notch.

I've been through Homeland about 2 1/2 times now.

The reason I talked about Moss is that she is a kind of subliminal actor that sneaked up on me and I only realized it when I saw her in some other series, she is really great. For me, less is much more.

I cannot bring myself to watch "The Handmaids Tale" but I feel like if I ever do her work will be top notch.

The Veil is thinner, smaller, and not written nearly as well as Homeland. It's kind of hard to believe Moss as a Brit. I think she should have downplayed the accent into a more tran-Atlantic pattern, he accent definitely sounds TV series.

The big deal here is that the are using Daesh as a boogie man. We don't really learn anything about it, and they don't even define it or make any comment on it other than to use it as the all-knowing, all-powerful villains. I was totally annoyed by the two Jihadis stealing the atomic material from a medical devise, that was lame.

The Veil is a kind of cheap Middle Eastern action spy movie with women leads. Most of it does not have even the echo of a ring of truth to it.

[–] letess (1513) 6 months ago

We’re saying the same thing. Only you said it better. I don’t think I wear anything that sounds like knickers. At least I hope I don’t. Re Homeland. I loved first two seasons and last two. My favorite scene was when they were at the Fat Parrot. I think The Veil will turn out to be enjoyable.