Movie Reviews

The Blacklist starts with a former intelligence officer who has landed himself a spot on the FBI’s most wanted list, turning himself in. That someone is Raymond Reddington (James Spader), a former agent who has gone AWOL a couple of years ago and has since become something of a master criminal. Even more surprising is the fact that he will only talk to Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone), a rookie profiler who has just started her first day on the new job. If you think this is an unrealistic and utterly ridiculous premise, then this is definitely not the show for you.

Throughout the 22 episodes of the first season, Reddington and Keen team up to bring down a bunch of real baddies who all appear on Reddington’s blacklist. Why he wants to bring these guys down, doesn’t really become clear but it’s fair to say he has some ulterior motives. These storylines are always neatly wrapped up in a single episode, which is fun enough at first but becomes tiresome after the first ten episodes. To make matters worse, the storylines that are woven throughout the entire season are even less interesting. There’s Keen’s husband Tom who seems like the perfect husband...or is he? There’s Keen’s father who has something of a connection with Reddington. There’s Keen trying to figure out why Reddington will only talk to her. It’s all a bit of a repetitive mess after a while

In short, “The Blacklist” is fun enough for a couple of episodes but quickly turns into something as forgettable as NCIS with equally annoying characters and some of the worst CGI that I’ve seen in a long time.