Delivered
Taron Egerton plays James Keene in Apple TV+’s Black Bird.
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REVIEW: Those who have followed Taron Egerton’s career on the big screen are in for a shock.
The British Actor Most Known For His Play Elton John† Eddie the eagle and Kingsman’s Eggsy has gained significantly more weight for his latest role in the six-part true crime drama Black Bird (which begins streaming on Apple TV+ on July 8).
The 32-year-old looks chiseled and muscular as he portrays the series’ protagonist, and author of the 2010 autobiographical novel (In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption) on which it’s based – James Keene.
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The son of a professional agent, he was once Kankakee’s favorite son, as his soccer skills and a million-dollar smile earned him four college scholarships. But somewhere along the way things went a bit “sideways” and by November 1996 he is using his charms to move illegal “stock” while making a more than decent profit.
That all stops one morning when a Swat team surrounds his house and interrupts his power smoothie preparation. Defiantly, he informs FBI agent Lauren McCauley (Sepideh Moafi) that he has “great lawyers.”
“Really? Do they turn water into wine?” she replies, after her team recovers not only drugs but also a stash of illegal firearms.
APPLE TV
Black Bird begins streaming on Apple TV+ on July 8.
Father “Big Jim” (the late, great Ray Liotta in his last television role) warns his son that the prosecution will try to make an example of him and advises him to plead so that he is free in five hours – in instead of 25 years.
“Tell me there’s a way out,” Keene begs his father. “Not so fast,” is the sad reply.
Much to their horror, the sentence handed down is actually double, so when McCauley and the DA show up for a surprise visit months later, Keene is in no way overjoyed to see them.
Impressed that he’s managed to survive on his own, but thrive, during his incarceration—he runs a porn library business that helps fund his cravings for fresh vegetables and lean cuts of beef—McCauley has a proposition. They want him transferred to another prison and use his charisma to force a confession from a man who may have killed more than 14 women. “We need the precise location of a corpse,” McCauley says, detailing the finer points of the plan.
“So you want me to go to a maximum security prison that specializes in the criminally insane and socialize with demons to ask him where he buried the bodies?… Not for all the money in the world,” Keene replies angrily.
“What about freedom?” McCauley says without missing a beat, affirming that success will result in a full commutation of his sentence, while also advocating for his humanity by saying that if Larry Hall’s (Paul Walter Hauser) is successful in pending appeal against his current conviction is – “he will kill again”.
Delivered
Black Bird features the late, great Ray Liotta in his last TV series role.
Switching between the initial investigation into Hall’s possible involvement in the death of Illinois teenager Jessica Roach after her body was found in an Indiana cornfield in late 1994, and the Keenes’ growing fears about the stress his prison sentence is causing for his ailing father (at least, that’s how his stepmother Sammy, played by our own Robyn Malcolm, his grueling battle), the tension is beautifully built, aided by a brilliant ensemble that also includes Greg Kinnear.
While directing is split between former directors of The Wire and The Drop, the script by veteran crime writer Dennis Lehane (Gone, Baby, Gone, Mystic River) really shines. Memorable dialogue abounds, as mystery and intrigue deepen with each scene – and you find yourself drawn into both Keene’s investigation and enigma, until you become completely absorbed in it and push yourself to ” just one more episode”.
Black Bird begins streaming on Apple TV+ on July 8.