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Ripley… Tom Ripley.
Yes, the character from The Talented Mr Ripley, the novel being written by Patricia Highsmith, but this time as an 8-part series, written and directed by Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List).
Opening in Rome, 1961, there’s a scene… which I don’t want to go into detail about, but you’ll see what happens soon enough.
Then we head back to New York City, 1960, where the titular grifter, portrayed by Andrew Scott (All Of Us Strangers), makes a tidy living out of sending fake letters demanding money for bogus overdue bill payments. But given that he feels the authorities are closing in on him and, so, circumstances call for change.
An unlikely opportunity has arisen at this time, too, as shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf has called for him under the impression they both attended the same University, were great friends, and so with his son, Dickie (Johnny Flynn – One Life) spending rather longer in Naples than he’d like, he wants Tom to head out there and urge him to come home.
On the plus side, there’s some bunce! Expenses and a salary will do nicely, especially given that the only thing ‘dicky’ in his life at present is the dire plumbing in the apartment. And as Tom states later, he intends to pay his Herbert back, as he’s “not the sort of person who takes advantage of people”. Hmm… (cue “I don’t believe you” GIF!)
And at least everything should be plain sailing, with no-one spotting him now he’s in Naples, given that he’s never been there before, as is my understanding.
I couldn’t get a handle on the Matt Damon film when I saw it a while back, but even though this is very much a slow burner, I am certainly enjoying this so far after two episodes. It certainly feels like it needs the extra room to breathe that a series can provide over a film.
It was a bit of a pain there were no subtitles on the preview – since there usually are for Netflix programmes and films – so I will watch more of this, but now it’s live as subtitles are present. That said, prior to this, there are some for occasional Italian dialogue, but not all of it. Even then, it chops and changes between Italian and English mid-conversation, which is a bit odd and reminds me of the 1992 days of Eldorado(!)
It’s interesting to note that both Scott and Flynn are British, but playing Americans. I’m not normally a fan of the latter, but he makes a decent fist of this. As usual, Scott is on top form.
Now, there’s speculation about who will be the next James Bond. Obviously, not Idris Elba as the press keep going on about him, but given that they’re having to reboot the films after the events of No Time To Die, it’ll be like “C” never existed in Spectre, so could it be… Andrew Scott?
Perhaps get him and Steven Zaillian back together, and that would be a very interesting prospect.
Updating this review a couple of weeks after its release, a few observations from later episodes, which I’ll put behind a spoiler header…
And one point specifically relating to the finale, so DO NOT READ unless you’ve seen the whole thing!
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Ripley is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from today.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 45-75 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: April 4th 2024
Studio: Netflix
Format: 1.78:1
Director: Steven Zaillian
Producers: Andrew Scott, Enzo Sisti
Writer: Steven Zaillian
Characters: Patricia Highsmith
Cast:
Tom Ripley: Andrew Scott
Dickie Greenleaf: Johnny Flynn
Marge Sherwood: Dakota Fanning
Inspector Pietro Ravini: Maurizio Lombardi
Pucci: Pasquale Esposito
Direttore Banca D’italia ’emilio Braganzi’: Franco Silvestri
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.