i watched the first 3 episodes of S02 of Sandman - this is one entire story arc, apparently.
It's very good.
First off you gotta accept that this is a very difficult story to bring to the screen without fucking it up. Because the entire comic is a work of art, and trying to recreate it on screen would demand an almost nonstop barrage of CGI. For example, each character has its own text balloons, and its own font. So maybe Dream
talks like this, while instead Death
talks like this.
(this forum doesn't have Impact font anymore !??!)
So while the acting may look weird, they are trying to recreate something from the comic that isn't really all that easy to bring to the screen. Tom Sturridge does really well as Dream, i really could not think of any way that he could be done better. I am a bit disappointed at the casting of Kirby as Death, but the again i don't really know who could do it better.
Death is a .. very important character in the books. She does almost nothing. But she is, in a way, the conscience of Dream. She is the only one who has no secondary interest, the only trustworthy one, the one who gives good advice.
The book-Death was essentially a copy of a real person, Cinamon Hadley,
and frankly i miss seeing her. Looking at the person, i can see why she would inspire the character. To recreate the same onscreen, you would need a tiny, attractive girl, someone who looks innocent, harmless, happy and carefree. Keep in mind that this is the personification of Death, who will be the last Endless, the one who will kill all the other Endless when time ends.
Death and Dream are the two ... protagonists, one active and the other static, while the other Endless are merely side characters. It's not easy to recreate this, so i can't fault the show too much for trying something different. I heard people calling the show woke, but Sandman was like this to begin with. I guess fragile kids are disturbed by Desire looking more like Frank N Further than the original, but i find it appropriate; in the comic, Desire is mostly a girl, but is also occasionally a boy. Go find me a IRL actor who can change sex the same way a comic character can change sex.
The CGI is good. Again we're talking about a lot of work, and they didn't pull any punches. The visuals are pretty damn good, and the music is superb. The dialogues are great because well, the source material is fucking superb. Dream is an incredibly powerful being, but he's still being portrayed as someone whose challenges we can actually feel for. His struggles are with the responsibility of his role - the Endless can't just start rekking shit - rather than just having to fisticuffs with demons.
What can i say, i love Sandman. I heard that they have replaced Constantine with a woman, which i find kinda disturbing, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
For example, Lucifer (male in the books, female in the show) is still excellent with Gwendoline Christie in the role - possibly even better. This is not a character that relies on any particularly masculine traits to exist, so i'm cool with the recasting.
Lucienne (white male to black female) was changed from an annoying prat to a more butler-like figure, Vivianne Achempong in the role, probably better as well.
the Cain and Abel duo is excellent. (Sanjeev Bhaskar and Asim Chaudhry)
Constantine is Jenna Coleman, from what i know of her she's absolute shit, i dont have great hopes.
For now i'm leaning towards a 8/10, maybe a bit less; i'll wait until the season is done.
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