“This is a Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist” Netflix Review by Brooke Daugherty
April 18, 2021 12:16 pm |
I was aware of this crime, but I had never heard if anyone was charged. The first episode was interesting and full of information I already knew. I had to restart episode three because I wasn’t sure I was still watching the same series at one point.This series goes into the investigation, the evidence found along the way, and then some. March 18, 1990 Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was robbed while the city celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. The Gardner Museum was close to the action, but it took years before any leads emerged, leaving the case unsolved to this day. The Gardner is not only a beautiful museum, it is a beautiful campus all together. I would watch an hour just of photos of the building and gardens over this whole documentary.
Colin Barnicle directed and produced the four part series with his brother Nick for Netflix. He stuck to the Netflix documentary style of talking heads and recreations alongside archival photos and video. The story is so interesting considering the burglars entering the building and taking their time and no one has been charged. There is NOTHING innovative or interesting about this in a documentary sense. I’m not sure the 10 million reward could save this trite series. The most valuable pieces stolen were created by artists you have most definitely heard of, but some pieces weren’t worth much at all, just like the “imagination” put into this series.
The Barnicle’s must have had a checklist of all the things a true crime documentary should have and went from there. I’m sure they had a couple hours worth of material, but decided it needed more murder, so they added inextensive information on the Irish mob. Sure, some of the suspects may have had ties with the mob, but I found myself checking my email during the entire third episode. If an organized crime entity was involved in this heist, fine, but there was no need to go into so much detail about these guys.
In short, if you want to watch a true crime documentary and aren’t bothered by the now all too predictable format, watch it. The first half for sure is worth finding out about the crime. This series could have benefited from shorter or possibly fewer episodes. Personally, I think some original storytelling techniques would have worked better. I wanted to love this. Tupperware for the story, Toss the overdone style, Taste It overall.
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: ROTTEN
Categorised in: Television Reviews
This post was written by Leftover Brian
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