So far as Neil Gaiman variations go, “The Sandman” sits squarely within the center. The strengths of its supply materials buoy it via a few of its weaknesses, however it has a good variety of these weaknesses — most of which rear their ugly head early on within the first season’s 10-episode run. The principle weak spot being: Dream himself, Tom Sturridge.
Sturridge is wildly miscast because the King of Desires, coming off much less as primordial awe-inspiring entity, and extra as a mopey emo boy with a nasty haircut. Dream is a difficult position for anybody to play — it is much less concerning the performing potential than it’s concerning the aura one provides off: intimidating, inhuman, cosmic, and possibly even a little bit merciless. The star of “The Sandman” was all the time going to be a sticking level — the one actor who may feasibly play Dream might need been ’70s David Bowie. As it’s, although, Sturridge does his finest growly voice to attempt to imitate the haunting method that Dream speaks (within the comics, his phrase bubbles had been black and whispery in comparison with everybody else’s customary white) and is suitably pale and gaunt-looking, however his efficiency largely provides “Edward’s constipated face in ‘Twilight’” power.
To enter whether or not the modifications that the Netflix sequence made — transferring the timeline to modern-day versus its unique late ’80s setting, altering the genders and races of a number of characters — work or not would veer too deeply into spoiler territory, and truthfully, be a little bit too pedantic. However for probably the most half the modifications do work, although among the less-successful modifications do really feel like a symptom of what I prefer to name “the Netflix impact.” A number of components are a little bit too clear, too shiny, too softened to make the identical visceral impression that the just a few brush strokes on a comic book e-book panel may make. To place it plainly, there are pictures from the “Sandman” comics which have burned themselves in my mind; there are scenes from the “Sandman” Netflix sequence that left my mind as quickly as they entered it.
