Posted in: Movies | Tagged: Benedict Wong, entertainment, Kublai Khan, Lorenzo Richelmy, marco polo, netflix, television

Binge Watching Review – Marco Polo

I'm going to try something new here. It wasn't intentional, but it happened so I'm going to go with it. Yesterday I decided I would try and watch the first episode for the Netflix series Marco Polo. I watched the opening and then turned it off… wasn't grabbed by it and I had work to do. Then about 11 pm I was about to head for bed but decided I should finish off the episode first. Again, I wasn't grabbed by it but it was okay so I thought I'd watch one more… suddenly I was watching the end credits for the tenth and final episode of the season and it was 8 am.

We've all heard the name Marco Polo… either as Venetian explorer and trader or as the swimming pool game. I have no idea how the swimming pool game came about… then again to be honest I knew next to nothing about the Venetian explorer either so I can't speak to the historical accuracy of the series. What I can talk about is whether or not it was good.

Young Marco (Lorenzo Richelmy) was born while his father was away trading, his mother died when he was six and he was raised by his aunt and uncle until his father returned when he was seventeen. This may be the quintessential definition of a bad parent… and it gets worse. Marco joins his father Niccolo (Pierfrancesco Favino) and uncle Maffeo (Corrado Invernizzi) on a trip to secure rights to trading along China's Silk Road. When they arrive at the palace of Kublai Khan (Benedict Wong) they do not have the Christian priests that the Khan of Khan had requested and their rights to trade are denied. But Khan takes a liking to Marco… so his loving, caring father offers him up in exchange for the trade rights. Yup, daddy dearest offers his already abandoned son up as a slave to help the old family business. And Khan accepts.

The ten episode series tells the tale of both Marco finding his place among the Monguls and Khan's obsession and war with the last area of China not under his control, the walled city of Xiangyang. Richelmy is likeable as Marco but lacks the charisma you'd expect from a series lead. Favino isn't around much in the series and when he is, you don't really like him. The standout character here is Wong as Khan. He brings a great diversity to the character that runs from fatherly to insane dictator and he transitions through the different phases with ease. Wong's portrayal of the Mongul leader alone is enough to recommend this series.

Where the series really starts to shine is with its sub-characters that include a lot of strong female roles including Joan Chen as Empress Chabi, Zhu Zhu as Kokachin, Olivia Cheng as Mei Lin and Shu An Oon as Jing Fei. On the male side, Amr Waked shined as Yusuf and Uli Latukefu as Byamba demanded your attention when he was on screen. Meanwhile the other male characters including Chin Han as Jia Sidao, Tom Wu as Hundred Eyes, Remy Hii as Prince Jingim and Mahesh Jadu as Ahmad were a bit stereotypical of their parts in the story… exactly what you'd expect from a bind monk, a corrupt administrator or a jealous son.

The story felt a bit like Da Vinci's Demons without the magic or spark. It took a few episodes to get me hooked… but I found myself compelled by watching Khan and wanting to see what would happen to him. The production value of the series is high, beautiful sets and scenery and extremely well directed. Any fault found in the show lies in the writing… both the lack of depth of some characters and the pace at which the story moved could definitely be improved.

I wouldn't say go get a Netflix account to watch this series. But if you already have one then its worth giving the show and episode or two to see if it's your cup-of-tea. Be warned though, it is violent and does contain quite a bit of nudity. At one point both as a fully nude woman uses martial arts to fight off three soldiers. I don't however recommend you starting to watch it late at night… when you have to get up and work the next day. Because if you do get hooked, you'll want to binge watch it.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/hB-ltNasHVw[/youtube]

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!