The high production values shine through the complete series, there's been little skimping on things like filming locations. The script works well with the built characterisations that are easy to follow and with very few plot holes to annoy. However there's a few 'wouldn't he just shoot them' moments added so as to drive the story along to another fight scene! Two story lines running together may of made it longer than necessary but it's well worth a watch, unless you're 12 and can't do subtitles. The story manages to intertwine present day and recent Balkans history and the real world pan European heist gang the Panthers. The gun running and corruption twisted through the series are very relevant especially after recent terrorist events.
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akash_sebastian27 April 2016Starts with an old-fashioned diamond heist, but then the series dives deep into the lives of its three lead protagonists and explores the links between crime, war and finance. The characters have enough depth, and the cinematography and music are brilliant. But it somehow fails to build enough tension with ammo of information it has. The various circumstances blur the line between professional and personal in the lives of these characters. Overall, it's intelligent and insightful, and really uncovers the kind of world which perpetuates crime and creates criminals. The series is clear in its message - Intended or not, with or without a choice, once you find yourself entangled in a web of crime, there's rarely a happy or non-violent outcome... unless, of course, you're one of the rich people bankrolling it. The diverse perspective on morality was welcome and commendable; it puts us in the shoes of various characters, and kind of makes the whole journey thought-provoking.
Was really intrigued by the connection of real-life instances relating to the 'The Pink Panthers' and the Bosnian War. And really glad that the rise of Eastern European shows and peoples' interest in them led to an international co-production of a trilingual crime thriller. The casting is brilliant; couldn't have asked for better one. Hope it marks the beginning of a new era of internationally co-produced multilingual shows. -
An underrated trans-european series that is very enjoyable as long as you don't mind subtitles.
In this dark tale of criminal activity, morality is not simple black and white and although there is much back story it is handled fairly well and provides more emotional impact in the later episodes.
The main players are - Kahlil, a french detective who has recently returned to Marseille where his mother, sister and criminal brother live. Milan, one of the diamond heist team who had hoped the proceeds would pay for his brother's operation but instead has to reopen connections with Serbian gangsters. Naomi, sent by her shady boss (the excellent John Hurt) to retrieve the stolen diamonds. She is then sent from Marseille on to Belgrade against her wishes.
If you can cope with three different languages over the 6 episodes you will be rewarded when the various plot strands come together at the end . -
searchanddestroy-122 November 2015I partly agree with the other reviews about this short TV show. I expected a different thing, I admit it. This is not a story about gangsters, that's not a heist feature either; only at the beginning. Yes, I found it overlong and sometimes boring, and also confusing at many times. The editing could have been far better for a perfect following of the whole stuff. It's related to a true story, events that actually occurred a decade ago, and speaking of former soldiers, I should say militia man in ex Yugoslavia, who later became jewelery robbers. So this film also talks about war in Serbia and Bosnia, but no mostly. Tahar Rahim has here a very ambivalent character, whose the ending performance in this tale reminds me the one he had in LES ANARCHISTES.
Unexpected ending too. A real dark and downbeat story. Not for all audiences. I guess very few people will love this TV series. -
rabbitmoon16 November 2015The Last Panthers doesn't quite have the confidence to really deliver on its premise. Everything feels a little flat and unremarkable, particularly Sam Morton who's character feels like a tenth generation photocopy of Sofie Gråbøl's Sarah Lund from similarly toned "The Killing". Ultimately there's not enough emotional engagement with anything in the pilot - I didn't care about any of the characters enough to want the insurance team, the police or the thieves to win. It was more just a bit of intrigue as to how the logistics might play out. Considering the far superior shows out there, its hard to invest my time in a season when the pilot feels as flat as this.
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My Review- The Last of Panthers 2015/2016 Streaming on ABC IView My Rating 7/10 I must be honest and say I really only watched this very interesting 6 part series because I'm catching up on the early projects of Tahar Rahim but I'm glad I did .
My only criticism is that the complex plot like so many series jumps back and forth in flashback which I find a bit confusing.
The Last Panthers is a Franco-British crime drama television series created by Jack Thorne and directed by Johan Renck. It is a fictional story inspired by the notorious Balkan jewel thieves the Pink Panthers. The profits from the sales of stolen diamonds was laundered to supply guns and ammunition to be used in the cruel and destructive War in Bosnia Independent Claims Specialist Naomi (Samantha Morton) is given the job by her boss, Tom (Sir John Hurt), of recovering stolen diamonds, no matter what it takes. Also on the trail of the diamonds, from a different direction, is Police Officer Khalil (Tahar Rahim). The investigation takes them across Europe and into a world where shadowy figures control events.
The series is almost monochrome in parts with just a hint of colour in the flashback sequences. It's a very effective technique also in depicting the Bosnian War which was characterised by bitter fighting, indiscriminate shelling of cities and towns mainly perpetrated by Serb, and to a lesser extent, Croat and Bosniak forces.
Filming took place mainly in London, Marseille, Montenegro and Belgrade, and the story will be in English, French and Serbian.
There are many key roles in this series beside Tahar Ramin who is excellent.
It's an ensemble piece and one of Sir John Hurts last great performances he died 2 years later. Samantha Morton as the Claims specialist is also excellent as is Goran Bogdan as Milan Celik one of the fugitive brothers .
I would have preferred episode 6 to earlier in the series because it flashbacks to Naomi Franckom's (Samantha Morton ) involvement in the Bosnian conflict and her association with Milan's father.
However I'm very glad I watched this if only to remind me of the State of the World and how little we really know of what goes on behind the scenes of World events and what roles some of the people and Nations we place our trust in. -
tommack-7376926 January 2016The Last Panthers is one of the best series to air on Sky in 2015.
The story follows many well respected British/French/Serbian actors and should be well received by audiences outside the UK & US as well as.
I think a lot of credit needs to be given to production companies which embrace multi-lingual scripts, instead of re-creating the same concept storyline which seems to be happening as of a recent years.
This is not a film for people who do not enjoy subtitles. But I personally believe that if a character is from a different country to countries of English speaking languages, it is vital for the conviction of the story for that character to speak in there most 'comfortable' language, as this is what would occur in reality. Additionally it strengthens the acting too. To discredit any film because of this reason is unprofessional and shouldn't be validated as "Professional review".
The action in the series is well directed and convincing for the audience. The series does have a lot of 'gritty' moments and harsh realities of how multi-continental gangs could operate, which add to the conviction of the storyline and the attraction of the audience to the series.
The script/ storyline of the series is complex, so is for a mature audience. There are a lot of details that can be complicated for the viewer, but the fact that its hard to pick holes in the series storyline is credible to its genre and style as 'well made'.
The production value greatly surpasses its actual budget, and for a small British film company it should be applauded as a well produced series.
It surprises me that many people are unfavourable to the series's production due to points such as "they all look the same", "too much reading". These I would dismiss as nonsense as in regards to the similarities of actors, when you start to watch a series in full, you learn the faces of the characters and 'who is who', so to judge this as a factor of bad producing on viewing 'one episode' is ridiculous.
After watching all the episodes, I would recommend this to many of my piers, as a; "gripping British styled drama, with shocking twists and strong acting from a wide range of international actors"
9/10 (creativity and respect for the inventiveness of creating an international drama)- Tommack
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thekingstaystheking27 January 2016Was looking forward to this series so much, only to watch it and feel like more could of been done. This had so much potential, considering the brazen robberies the panthers have pulled off in the past I felt that the last panthers robbery didn't even make sense, they were in cars but decided to jump out create a ring of fire and run off on foot? One good action scene in the first episode apart from that a lot of dialogue. Ending wasn't to great, I don't see how they'll make a second series. It's worth a watch if you're bored with nothing else to do,but if you had high expectations The Last Panthers will disappoint...
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ZakariahOwen21 January 2016I have never been engaged before by long series, however this caught my attention long before release. The beginning of the series leaves you in a blissful confusion of interesting characters and locations. As the series develops, it becomes even more engaging.
The camera work, music and casting is flawless, and refreshingly realistic. I can understand that this may not be for everyone but i'm a young age and i can honestly say that this series had me captured. It has a strange yet oddly compelling mix of human beauty and human savagery, with unexpected turns from characters you thought you knew, and overall this makes for a genuinely maelstrom of emotion.
A very dark and mysterious masterpiece of plots, solid, undeniable 10/10. Definitely worth watching. Absolutely amazing. -
ib011f9545i8 April 2018I am not a customer of the company that made this ,so never saw it on tv. I picked up the dvd cheap and watched it over 2 days.
I love a good mini series (The Night Manager,The Company,Mcmafia for example) but I feel this was not a good mini series.
Poor John Hurt looked unwell in this,he died not long after making it I think. Samantha Morton was not stretched in her part. I give no spoilers but the story is well known to viewers of every British crime drams since the 1990s.
It is well made but I can't see how people said it was great,it is not awful but I would watch The Night Manager if you you have not seen it -
higgsparticule22 February 2018It started out well, even though being Supposedly professional thieves they made a bad job of it. It got bogged down with too much detail, and not killing the would be leader of the panthers did not make sense, knowing that letting him live, he would come after him and his family. In episode 5 I was getting bored with the love story. There was potential to make this a lot better than this, as the filming was excellent.
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Boogdan-ica15 November 2015The plot had seemed intriguing even before seeing the first episode. I've waited to see the true brilliance of Johan Rencks work, and as I watched the first episode I felt excitement to see where this all ends.
I was especially intrigued by the excellent casting and refreshing filming locations. The only thing that bugs me would be the everlasting titles, but that makes the series even more special, as they departed from the usual Hollywood TV series products. Sky TV took a huge step in production, and I believe it will get them the acknowledgement they aspired to.
I surely hope this will eventually get under the spotlight it deserves to be. Until the next episode, by my count, this show gets a proper called nine out of ten. -
calexicoca22 January 2016It seems that the producers, actors and directors could not figure out what this product has to be: thriller, crime drama, historical piece or anti-corruption statement. Well, it does not really matter because they failed in any of these attempts. Despite of production values being pretty high (locations along with cinematography are the only reason I gave this show 4), the story if full of holes without any coherent base for actions that characters take. They look and act like shallow stereotypes of some preconceived images about good guys who do bad things. Too bad because we really do not care about any of them. Editing does not help either because it is confusing.
Very notion that a Bosnian Muslim ends up in Serbian para militia forces who did their fair share of war crimes is laughable. Same can be said for a EU peace keeping military officer having an affair and romantically picnicking with Muslim man and his children. Come on!?! -
Weirdling_Wolf9 December 2020In addition to being an excitingly toothsome, thrillingly complex, politically astute, morally destitute drama 'The Last Panthers' (2015) is also singularly blessed with the uncommonly brooding, bad-boy presence of the deliciously spring-heeled, lithe lead Panther, raven-eyed, vengeance-dispensing, Goran Bogdan, who is a TOTAL hard-bodied, heist-master hottie supreme! With its especially dense, thought provoking screenplay, all across the board terrific acting, a marvellously moody minimalist electronic score and its gorgeously layered potting, 'The Last Panthers' mini-series is one especially muscular, six-episode whirlwind of exquisitely twisted, double-dealing, breathlessly immersive, internecine intrigue! And all of this gloriously gritty, Euro-crime, gang land goodness has a rather nifty David Bowie title track ta' boot!
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Phylum2212 November 2015I have seen the first one, it was OK. Three main problems.
A) can barely tell the flashbacks to the present day. The way it is filmed does not help that either.
B) many of the characters look alike, which is also confusing, two of the main characters look very similar.
C) subtitles, all the way through, spent 70% of the hour reading. Now if I want to read a good story, I will buy a book.
This last point was really the one that spoiled what could have been a good programme, literally all the way through, it drove me nuts. Because of this I doubt I will watch any more of a potentially good show. -
emma-armstrong17 November 2015The first 6-7 minutes of the show is just a robbery and a chase scene. This scene is well shoot but does not make the show interesting for me. The show could get better after the chase scene but I did not continue watching. A show is not worth my time unless it is able to draw me in fast and get me hooked, or everyone of my friends is watching it, and so far it seems like neither of those are going to be true. I gave this show a 4 because the chase scene was well shoot but I just feel like that was not the way to start a show. Either cut down on the time of the scene so I can get to the plot or give me some plot before showing me the scene so I am already hooked
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Kicks off with an exciting diamond heist, that promises lots of high octane action but the series meanders a little thereafter as it explores the lives of its three main protagonists and interrogates the connections between crime, war and finance. The performances are stellar and the direction is lovely and moody but somehow it doesn't add up to the sum of its parts and falls a little flat. I can't quite put my finger on it as I like multi -stranded POVS and was genuinely intrigued the whole time and hoping that the strands would link more profoundly but even though I didn't quite vibe top this one Jack Thorne is an incredibly talented and prodigious writer and I really look forward to his next projects.