Amazon's Ordeal by Innocence feels strangely sleek

Vulture

The three-part British Agatha Christie adaptation feels "like an overly enthusiastic restoration of an old building that renders everything too shiny," says Kathryn VanArendonk. But while it will fulfill your whodunit needs and is gorgeous to look at, she says, "those lovely surfaces aren’t anchored to a propulsive enough story, so when it tries to polish, complicate, and heighten the usual Christie tropes — the flashbacks, the looping story structure, and the fascination with beautiful images of dripping blood and foreshortened statuary — the whole thing feels overwrought." ALSO: Ordeal by Innocence is radical for not having a true detective character.