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NEW YORK (CNS) -- A 1993 novel by John le Carre, famed for his tales of espionage, served as the basis for AMC's 2016 miniseries "The Night Manager."
Now The Ink Factory, the production company behind that Emmy award-winning program, takes on another of le Carre's works with "The Little Drummer Girl."
Like "The Night Manager," this handsomely produced but overly intricate six-hour series is a collaboration between AMC and the BBC. It makes its American debut Monday, Nov. 19, 9-11 p.m. EST, having aired in Britain in October. Episodes continue nightly in the same time slot through Wednesday, Nov. 21.
This is the second filmed version of the book. Director George Roy Hill's 1984 feature-film adaptation starred Diane Keaton and opened to mixed reviews. This small-screen take finds South Korean director Park Chan-wook at the helm.
The story is set in 1979. After Palestinian terrorists murder Israeli Zionists living in Cologne, West Germany, Mossad spymaster Martin Kurtz (Michael Shannon) vows to exact revenge on the Palestinians' leader, Khalil (Charif Ghattas).
In what initially seems an unrelated plotline, 20-something London actress Charlie Ross (Florence Pugh) is working with her theater troupe in Greece when she encounters Gadi Becker (Alexander Skarsgard) on a beach on the island of Naxos. Though she at first refers to Becker dismissively as an "international man of mystery," Charlie is gradually drawn to her new acquaintance and begins traveling with him.
Becker, it turns out, is actually a Mossad operative and a member of Kurtz's team. He takes Charlie on a harrowing ride to the operation's temporary base where Kurtz explains that she's being recruited to act a part. In a bid to get closer to Khalil, Charlie will pose as his brother Michel's (Amir Khoury) girlfriend.
As viewers will anticipate from a series of this nature, a fair amount of violence, including explosions and gunplay, are depicted. Psychological but not physical torture is also portrayed.
Characters curse, moreover, albeit sparingly, and some sexuality and oblique nudity are added to the mix. Still, these elements are handled with admirable restraint. So, while not suitable for children or teens, "The Little Drummer Girl" is acceptable fare for most adults.
There's much to like about the series. It gets the period details right, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains, sadly, as pertinent today as it was 40 years ago.
The show also boasts some intelligent writing and outstanding acting. Capable of vanishing miraculously into any role he plays, Shannon is excellent as Kurtz. And, in a part that requires her to express naivete, resentment, steely nerves as well as raw vulnerability, Pugh delivers a breakout performance.
Skarsgard is the weak link, however. His rigid and overly mannered performance disrupts the chemistry between him and Pugh, and viewers consequently won't believe the physical attraction that's supposed to exist between the duo.
In fact, Skarsgard's performance underscores what's wrong with "The Little Drummer Girl" as a whole. It's too enamored of its elaborate, stilted fabrications.
Ultimately, though, it's Chan-wook's languid direction that undoes the drama. With risks and dangers supposedly rising exponentially for Charlie, the action nonetheless proceeds tediously.
At one point, Kurtz asks his actress recruit, "When are you going to do something?" as opposed to merely talking. By the second night of AMC's "three-night event," the audience will likely want to ask the folks behind "The Little Drummer Girl" a similar question.
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Byrd is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service.