Posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2023 at 11:30:00 AM by Cedric Gasperini
Casting error
2003, in Austin, Texas. Joel is a building contractor. He runs his company with his brother, Tommy, while raising his daughter Sarah alone. On September 26, it’s his birthday. But he won’t be able to celebrate: a sudden and extremely virulent epidemic turns the inhabitants into living dead. The army locks down the city and receives the order to clear the way to stem the epidemic.
As Joël, Tommy and Sarah flee, the latter is shot by a soldier in front of her father.
2023. The epidemic has ravaged the world. The army instituted an extremely violent totalitarian policy. Each city is protected by a heavy wall that no one can cross, in one direction or the other. Joël lives in Boston, taking care of dirty tasks like scouring the sewers or burning the bodies of people affected by the contamination. He also deals a little, to make ends meet. His brother, who lives on the other side of the country, but with whom he is in radio contact, has been missing for 3 weeks. He plans to leave the city, despite the bans, in order to find his trace. But one thing leading to another, his plans fell through. His only salvation comes from the resistance group called Les Lucioles. They task him and his companion Tess with escorting a young girl Ellie, whose survival is paramount, to Washington…
The first episode, substantial since it lasts 1h20, of The Last of Us, has just been released on Amazon Prome Video. The next one will be out next week. There will be 9 in total, which will be of unequal duration.
Fans have high expectations for this adaptation of Naughty Dog’s hit game.
At Gamalive, we were also very critical when the casting was announced. Me particularly. Pedro Pascal never really convinced me as an actor and I therefore feared the worst for his interpretation of Joël. I was wrong. He does the job well and embodies the character well. It is especially helped, in vf, by a high quality dubbing which gives depth to the interpretation. Mea Culpa, then. We validate Pedro Pascal. We also had big doubts about Bella Ramsey as Ellie. Unfortunately, our doubts were confirmed. Her acting lacks subtlety, is sometimes off the mark, she tends to overplay and, above all, her physique (especially her face) is a thousand miles from the fragility of the video game character and her flaws. It’s a big failure at the level of the casting which weighs badly on this first episode. Let’s pray that it improves afterwards or that, failing that, we get used to it. But it’s a real disappointment.
The rest of the cast is doing pretty well. Tess is convincing, Tommy a little less but he should be fine. Marlene is perfect.
The series follows the history of the video game step by step, showing how the latter was already totally cinematic. Oh, there are a few additions (the story with the neighbors at the start of the episode), a few differences (the accident and the fact that Tommy is directly separated from Joel and Sarah at that moment), even a few shortcuts (we would have liked Joël’s flight with Sarah in his arms to be longer and more intense). And other small variations here and there, but which in no way betray the marrow of the series.
And if we still regret that this first episode is not more “creepy” than that, with very few zombies, we will salute the performance of the actors during the death of Sarah, which moved us to the highest point, even if we have already experienced it several times in video games.
Add a series that gives itself the means in terms of decor and atmosphere.
In the end, despite an actress below the overall level of the series and a few small points of detail that could have been improved here and there, in terms of rhythm or certain scenes, as mentioned above, the adaptation of The Last of Us is doing very honorably and it’s a real pleasure to watch it.
I was afraid of coming across a hastily made adaptation that would clash with the fascination I have for this series, I was wrong. At least for this first episode. Hope it lasts.
