Don't Believe the Hype

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

All hell breaks loose in Atlanta when a mysterious and deadly virus strikes. To contain the outbreak, a "cordon sanitaire" is established, which is a fancy term to say a portion of the city becomes a quarantine zone from which no one enters or leaves. This self-contained 13 episode mini-series tells the story of several of the people stuck inside the zone, as well as the main outside actors working the crisis. Certain steps are taken by the show runners to show the deadliness of the virus in its gory details but despite the gravity of the situation, this is at all time handled like a poorly written "young adult series".I won't lie, this is absolutely terrible. It had to be for me to resume writing reviews on imdb, something I used to do frequently ages ago. But the situations, the direction, dialogues and the horrible acting reach the funny side of "bad".Let's get out the most important piece of entertainment. David Gyasi plays "Lex", a straight arrow cop who has to maintain the integrity of the cordon from the outside, while being worried about his girlfriend who is stuck inside the zone. But Gyasi seems to be acting as if Dave Chappelle was doing a Denzel Washington impersonation. You read that right. He's doing an impression of a guy doing an impression of another guy. Lex is a central character as far as demonstrating the need to remain tough and not allow those in need of assistance inside the zone to go out. He is supposed to be a complex, tortured character but Gyasi atrocious acting skills and his curious interpretation choice become the central comical aspect of the TV series. At times, he's literally trying to be Denzel and fails miserably. You'd swear it's a comedy. In this drama, everybody has white teeth, most actors are nice looking and recite dumbly their lines. There is a romance striking inside between a rebellious cop and a "single mom" played by Kristen Gotoskie. Problem is, her son is about 11 years old and she's obviously way too young for the part. At one point, her character recites says to her romantic interest "Yeah, I had him extremely young" but you know it's the show producers winking at the audience "We know the actress is too young for the role but she's hot, right?". At various points, people in the show suffer tragedies that don't seem to register for them as much as they should. People sometimes act carelessly around the virus. Some people suit up for protection, than speak to unprotected people 6 inches away from them. People wear gloves and then throw stuff at others who have bare hands. The cordon zone is constantly compromised. People inside and to get way too close to each other. People buy food from each other. One of the protagonist accepts a water bottle from a complete stranger he just crossed. That guy has one of the best lines later, when his wife just learns of her daughter's death "Oh, my dear... is there something we can do for you?"I'm pretty sure the poor actress, having to respond to such a stupid line, must have thought: "Yeah, you could find me a better acting gig".

This is a really well written show with a diverse and talented cast. The episodes are fast paced and often emotionally harrowing with many main characters (including children) in life threatening danger. The violence is frequent and sometimes gory but always shocking. The characters are complex and flawed but they are quiet likeable and very diverse. There are also strong female characters and an lgbtq man who is not defined by his sexuality. This is the kind of show which really makes you think about the issues within it: government conspiracy, racism, free speech etc. There are strong role models who stand up for their family and who have a strong moral principle. The language is mild and so is the sex as well. I would say this is okay for ages 13-14 and up because despite being very high quality it can often be depressing and sometimes disturbing. I would really recommend, you will be on the edge of your seat.

Like a train wreck....but I just had to watch it through the end of the first season. Call me a glutton for punishment, but I am no quitter. I am all about "willing suspension of disbelief", but someone please consult a biologist to get a few salient facts about transmission of disease. THERE SIMPLY IS NO WAY DEAD BODIES ARE NOT STILL INFECTIOUS! And our hero cop without any personal protective equipment can just simply cremate them in the hospital incinerator. But all of the cops finally sent in to the cordon develop the disease despite having minimal contact with anyone on the inside. Sure a lone doctor in a hospital will find a cure for the disease with limited resources.I can be equally disillusioned by FEMA's mishandling of Hurricane Katrina in the real world, but there is no way this would have been a local event for more than 24 hours. The National Guard and FEMA would have been on the scene much earlier, and food dispensed much sooner. Yeah, just wait until people are starving and then let the gangs take over. Just like they quarantined the cops they could have quarantined the healthy and removed them from the area after the 48 hour containment didn't work out as planned. I could go on and on with the inconsistencies and still watched, but when you kill off one of the main protagonists, I can't. I thought for sure we were going to find out that the drug she was on was going to be the cure or at least protective against the virus. Sadly, no. sheesh! So, I'm done, after investing about 10 hours of my life in this drivel....I won't be returning for season 2.

I tried really hard to like this show, but just found myself frustrated with it over and over again. The writers go through insane acrobatics to place characters in situations that, frankly, anyone with half a brain would've avoided easily from the beginning.Almost no one follows the rules! I know, I know, people are dumb, but not *everyone* is *that* stupid.Many of the characters pivot 180 degrees and back. There is very little in the way of consistent characterization.There are so many factual errors as well. This being set in Atlanta was distracting to me because they got so many little details only about half right.And the dialogue was often ridiculous. Stilted, melodramatic... just bad.It's a shame as there were some quality actors involved, and the basic story, while nothing terribly original, could've been handled decently.