Luther: The Fallen Sun: Idris Elba’s DCI’s Netflix-backed return will leave you shaken – and stirred

Luther: The Fallen Sun (R16, 129mins) Directed by Jamie Payne ****

He wears a woollen coat rather than a tux, prefers driving an early ‘90s Volvo 740 GL to the latest Aston Martin model and, in his latest adventure, rejects the offers of a martini, preferring a glass of water instead.

“If it makes you happy, you can make it fizzy,” he deadpans.

Yes, the now 50-year-old Idris Elba might have finally put to bed all talk of him playing 007, but really he’s carved out his own iconic British character in Detective Chief Inspector John Luther.

READ MORE:
* Idris Elba on playing James Bond: ‘I’m not going to be that guy’
* What to Watch: Why Idris Elba’s Luther is back and better than ever
* Luther: The screenwriter behind Idris Elba’s hit show who lives in Wellington
* Luther writer Neil Cross on creating a dark world from his Wellington home

First appearing on the small screen in 2010, the corner-cutting, Bowie-loving, criminal-stopping London copper has featured in some of the most gripping and gruesome hours of TV to come from the UK.

However, for almost as long as they’ve talked about ending Luther’s run, Elba and the man who has “joint custody” over the character – Bristol-born, but Wellington-based author Neil Cross – have wanted to bring him to the big screen.

The show has always been cinematic in nature and while The Fallen Sun ramps things up another notch with a stunning Piccadilly Circus set-piece a Scandinavian sojourn and a Bond-esque villain with bad hair, it still stays true to its dark, intimate roots and definitely does not disappoint when it comes to creating almost unbearable tension and scenes that will shock.

Some of them come early. Investigating a curious crime scene involving the thawing body of woman who disappeared seven years ago, Luther is confronted by the mother of the young man who called it in to the authorities and then seemingly evaporated.

Little does he know though that someone is watching his every move and, convinced that he is hiding something, is keen to use their vast resources and influence to unearth “his shame”. “I want every little furtive secret, intimate indiscretion – any line he has crossed.”

As anyone familiar with the show will know, what comes back is a laundry list – albeit all done in the pursuit of justice. Unfortunately, that cuts no ice with the courts and suddenly Luther is facing a lengthy sentence in a maximum security prison. And, naturally, given his history, the welcome is not exactly going to be cordial.

With such a potential thorn to his master plan seemingly out of the way, our villain (a seriously creepy Andy Serkis) unveils a grisly tableau involving eight long-missing persons, a horrific act, we discover is only just the tip of the iceberg of what he has up his sleeve.

Luther has always been a detective series more concerned with unleashing its monsters (and having our flawed hero stop them) than exploring their motivations. That may frustrate some newcomers to Cross’ world, or those who find Serkis’ (Black Panther, The Lord of the Rings’ Gollum) constant gurning and goading a touch too pantomime.

But, while others may also bridle that the plot feels like a mash-up of Dexter’s polarising fifth-season (the one with Jonny Lee Miller), the Saw movies or Netflix’s Clickbait, there’s no doubting Cross knows how to get the audience to invest in a story, ramp up the stakes, keep viewers on the edge of their seats and take them on a white-knuckle ride.

Having a bigger stage has just made him and Elba bolder.

Now screening in select cinemas, Luther: The Fallen Sun will debut on Netflix on March 10.