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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
‘The Veil’ unravels despite the hook of Elisabeth Moss in spy mode | |
Review by Brian Lowry, CNN | |
Updated: | |
9:39 AM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Despite her commitment to Elisabeth Moss has kept busy in movies and | |
limited series, including and now “The Veil,” a disjointed spy | |
thriller for Hulu. Adopting a British accent, Moss sinks her teeth into | |
the role of an MI6 agent, but her cat-and-mouse game with a suspected | |
terrorist gradually unravels after a reasonably compelling start. | |
The six-episode show opens at a refugee camp on the Syrian/Turkish | |
border, where Adilah (Yumna Marwan) has sought refuge. But is she | |
actually an ISIS mastermind, one with valuable information about a | |
pending terror attack? Determining that falls to Imogen (Moss), who, as | |
a French agent observes, will get to the bottom of things if anyone | |
can. | |
Not surprisingly, the high stakes draw plenty of attention, not only | |
from French authorities but a CIA agent (Josh Charles) who parachutes | |
in and tries to exert control over the chaotic situation, like the | |
proverbial American bull in an international china shop. | |
Written by Steven Knight, a British writer-producer best known | |
stateside for “Peaky Blinders” (but also behind the more recent | |
disappointments and ), “The Veil” has some fun playing with spy | |
conventions. That includes the hostile interactions between Charles’ | |
character and his French counterpart (Dali Benssalah), which even | |
results in a rather hilariously bad shoving match. | |
Unfortunately, the show keeps drifting into cliches of the genre, from | |
Adilah’s motivations to be reunited with her child to Imogen being | |
haunted by her past, which dilutes the taut interaction between the two | |
principals as the agent tries to penetrate her target’s protective | |
shell in those opening chapters. | |
Nobody pulls off glowering stares and quiet intensity quite like Moss | |
does, and she appears to relish this opportunity to shapeshift into | |
what amounts to sort of a modern-day , including boots and butt | |
kicking, perhaps in part because she’s not an obvious choice for that | |
assignment. | |
That said, she’s likely having a better time than you will, and once | |
you get past the initial novelty the show feels at best like a | |
middle-of-the-road addition to a long list of espionage-related series. | |
In that sense, “The Veil” is at least aptly named. Because while it | |
begins by delicately hiding its mystery, the longer the story tugs at | |
that, the less its wispy premise holds together. | |
“The Veil” premieres April 30 on Hulu. | |
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