

Pascal conveys both a paternal warmth as well as a quiet intensity that balances with Bella Ramsey‘s smart-ass yet whipsmart Ellie. “Pascal, who already had reached peak pop culture status with his stoic turn on ‘The Mandalorian,’ here plays a similar character and guardian to a young child who has a higher purpose. Clocking in at a feature-length eighty-one minutes, the premiere episode does not focus on the infected monsters, which is not the point of this series.” Once more, the leads are praised. This is a masterpiece of storytelling that elevates what those who have played the games have already experienced and opens up the story for anyone who doesn’t have a Playstation.” Maidy adds, “Rather than belaboring the years in between, the series delivers the story’s genesis and then skips right to the meat of the tale. Yet despite the limits of past game-to-TV/movie translations, the first season exhibits the kind of delicacy and depth that suggests we won’t be seeing the last of it for some time.”Īlex Maidy of JoBlo’s Movie Network praises the series as “a faithful recreation of the video game that retains the dynamic characters and world players loved while expanding the drama and horror to new levels.

“’The Last of Us’ is just the latest iteration of imagining a world gone mad, emphasizing the personal dramas that unfold against that backdrop.

SEE HBO’s 2023 preview offers first peek at new ‘True Detective’īrian Lowry of CNN writes, “A road series with mini-dramas baked into the episodes, the HBO show quickly proves itself worthy of the hype and anticipation by delivering a fully realized series graced with flesh-and-blood characters.” The concept is not new but “The Last of Us” expands on it even further as “Series creators Craig Mazin (an Emmy winner for “Chernobyl”) and Neil Druckmann (co-president of the award-winning game’s maker, Naughty Dog) initially construct that story around one family, flaring out to chronicle the outbreak’s ramifications around the globe, with a 20-year palette from which to choose.” The leads are praised as they grapple not only with the horrifying world in which they live, but their past as well.
