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TV Review: ‘Slow Horses’ Season 4
Gary Oldman in ‘Slow Horses’ season 4 now streaming on Apple TV+.

Returning for its fourth season with one episode on September 4th, ‘Slow Horses’ continues to prove itself as one of the best series on offer via the Apple TV+ service.

In fact, Apple has clearly been so happy with the viewership of the show, and so willing to future-proof the availability of its cast, that it has been shooting two seasons at once. A fifth is already in the works, and the start of the fourth indicates that it has lost none of the unpredictable, grungy and satisfyingly British style that fans have come to enjoy.

Related Article: TV Review: ‘Slow Horses’ Season 3

Does ‘Slow Horses’ Season 4 succeed in its mission?

Jack Lowden in ‘Slow Horses’ season 4 now streaming on Apple TV+.

While there’s little doubt that the key to ‘Slow Horses’ appeal is Gary Oldman having the time of his life as the grubby, greasy, but incredibly sharp agent Jackson Lamb (the actor has scored a welcome first Emmy nomination for the role following Season 3), the show still doesn’t lazily rely on the performance and the character, evolving each season to embrace new personalities and expanded storylines, while maintaining what works.

For Season 4, that more-of-the-same-with-a-twist approach shows no sign of faltering, and indeed, the initial episodes –– we’ll only really discuss the first here as that’s the one landing on premiere day –– are suitably excellent.

‘Slow Horses’ Season 4: Script and Direction

(L to R) Ruth Bradley and Gary Oldman in ‘Slow Horses’ season 4 now streaming on Apple TV+.

Led by Will Smith (a writer and former stand-up with experience on Armando Iannucci’s shows, not the movie star), the series’ writing team is always on point, using Mick Herron’s novels as a starting point for the basic structure of each season and then expanding from there, but always in organic fashion.

It may not always be as action-packed as other shows (though it certainly has its moments –– witness the traumatic bomb attack that opens this season), when you have dialogue that crackles like this, you don’t need every space to be filled with someone waving a gun. And in the mouths of Oldman and the rest of the game cast, it’s always guaranteed to make you laugh or gasp… sometimes at the same time.

On the visual side of things, the show benefits from having both a more limited number of episodes per season (usually six) and one director through the whole batch, meaning that the show –– also thanks to a hefty budget from Apple –– ends up looking like a movie cut into TV-sized chunks. The environs of Slough House, the low-rent office where Lamb and co. are based, are wonderfully scruffy and evocative, in stark contrast to the polished glass and cold concrete of MI5’s main Regent’s Park HQ.

And the show uses London’s variety of landscapes and neighborhoods, plus other areas in the UK, to great effect. In Season’s 4 case, the man in charge of the show’s look is Adam Randall, who fits in well with the overall style.

‘Slow Horses’ Season 4: Performances

Oldman might rightfully score the lion’s share of the plaudits, but there is a wider ensemble all putting in great performances.

Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb

Gary Oldman in ‘Slow Horses’ season 4 now streaming on Apple TV+.

Oldman has repeatedly said that he’s having the time of his life playing the grumpy, cynical and endlessly mucky head of Slough House, and that energy seeps out of every pore. The vanity-free performance (Lamb is frequently seen with lanky hair, grease stains and mismatched clothing), is a truly memorable one, the slovenly appearance the perfect camouflage for a truly inspired spy mind.

Jack Lowden as River Cartwright

Jack Lowden in ‘Slow Horses’ season 4 now streaming on Apple TV+.

While he was the audience surrogate character at the start, the young agent banished to Slough House after a training mission goes wrong, River has grown into a great sidekick for Lamb, and an impressive character in his own right. And Lowden brings a superb blend of world-weariness and enthusiasm to the role.

Jonathan Pryce as David Cartwright

Jonathan Pryce in ‘Slow Horses’ season 4 now streaming on Apple TV+.

Though the elder Cartwright has mostly been a supporting character in earlier seasons, it’s easy to see why Smith chose an experienced thespian like Pryce to play him; because he knew that David would become much more important down the line. And Pryce brings a potent combo of wise elder former agent and humbled aging grandfather to the part, which expands here.

Kristin Scott Thomas as Diana Taverner

Kristin Scott Thomas in ‘Slow Horses’ season 4 now streaming on Apple TV+.

Few people can do withering putdowns like Thomas, and in Taverner, she’s found the ideal outlet. A canny, ice-cold professional, she’s forever frustrated by the hapless government types she’s forced to deal with. And her endlessly watchable interactions with Oldman are often a highlight of each season.

Other notable characters

(L to R) Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Christopher Chung, Tom Brooke, Kadiff Kirwan and Rosalind Eleazar in ‘Slow Horses’ season 4 now streaming on Apple TV+.

The rest of the Slough House ensemble all get their moments in the sun, and this fourth season includes a healthy influx of new characters (since in this show, a long life expectancy is never guaranteed). Highlights of the new episodes include Joanna Scanlan (like showrunner Smith, a veteran of Armando Iannucci’s shows) as the eager-to-please Moira and Tom Brooke as JK, a mysterious and honestly weird fresh addition to the office. And not forgetting James Callis as Claude Whelan, the nervous, officious new First Desk of MI5 and a great foil for Taverner.

‘Slow Horses’ Season 4: Final Thoughts

Gary Oldman in ‘Slow Horses’ season 4 now streaming on Apple TV+.

‘Slow Horses’ creative team have said they’ll happily keep making the show as long as Apple wants them to (and Mick Herron keeps writing books to adapt, with the author up to eight and counting), and that’s welcome news.

If only more series were as consistently entertaining, and this still full of steam when their fourth seasons rolled around, the TV landscape would be in much better shape.

‘Slow Horses’ Season 4 receives 8.5 out of 10 stars.
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What’s the story of ‘Slow Horses’ Season 4?

Adapted from Mick Herron’s ‘Slow Horses’ novel ‘Spook Street’, Season 4 opens as a bomb has exploded in a shopping center in London and MI5 is racing to figure out who is responsible. Second Desk (the second-in-command of the intelligence service) Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) must balance the demands of the investigation with effectively babysitting the nervy new First Desk (James Callis).

As for those at Slough House, River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) is faced with his grandfather David’s (Jonathan Pryce) increasingly fragile mental condition, compounded by a new mystery that could threaten both their lives. Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), meanwhile, is his same old, irascible self, happy to endlessly mock his team of exiled agents, but also fiercely loyal when it comes to protecting them.

And he’ll need to, as a face from the past has returned to cause trouble…

Who else is in the cast of ‘Slow Horses’ Season 4?

The new season’s cast also includes the returning likes of Christopher Chung, Rosalind Eleazar, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Saskia Reeves and Kadiff Kirwan, along with new recruits Joanna Scanlan, Tom Brooke and Hugo Weaving.

Hugo Weaving in ‘Slow Horses’ season 4 now streaming on Apple TV+.

Movies Similar to ‘Slow Horses’:
- ‘The Avengers‘ (1998)
- ‘RED‘ (2010)
- ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy‘ (2011)
- ‘Skyfall‘ (2012)
- ‘The Sweeney‘ (2013)
- ‘Spy‘ (2015)
- ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service‘ (2015)
- ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ (2015)
- ‘The Gray Man‘ (2022)
- ‘Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre‘ (2023)
Buy Gary Oldman Movies on Amazon
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September 8, 2024
Movie Review: ‘Empire of Light’

Olivia Colman in ‘Empire of Light.’ Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.

Though they were both swirling around their writer/directors’ minds before the pandemic struck, it’s hard not to see Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Fabelmans’ and Sam Mendes’ ‘Empire of Light’ partly as reactions to cinemas being closed during the long months that everyone was locked down.

And while Spielberg took a semi-autobiographical approach to channel his love of watching (and making) movies, Mendes seems motivated more by the impact it can have on those who might need a boost. And about troubled people finding each other.

The setting for the ‘1917’ director’s latest is the chilly, windswept English coastal town of Margate, where stands one of the Empire chain of cinemas. There, a small staff screens the latest releases to local folk.

This old-school movie palace is falling into disrepair, entire sections locked off and some exposed to the elements, its glory days behind it. The same might be said for some of the staff, though in the case of the careworn manager Hilary (Olivia Colman), the question is whether she ever saw glory days to begin with.

The cast of “Empire of Light.’ Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.

Back at work after a stay in a local mental health facility and facing little sympathy or understanding from her doctor, she’s just trying to hold it together while picking back up an ill-advised affair with the dull-but-authoritative Donald Ellis (Colin Firth, in particularly smug mode).

Around her are a rag-tag group of employees, including veteran projectionist Norman (Toby Jones), ambitious assistant manager Neil (Tom Brooke) and disaffected candy-slinger Janine. After a dismissal, their ranks are swelled by Stephen (Micheal Ward), an enthusiastic young Black worker with a love for music, who immediately attracts the attention of Janine and, on a deeper level, Hilary.

Soon, Hilary and Stephen are sharing snacks and sexual encounters in the disused upper echelons of the cinema, where a formerly fancy bar area is now home to roosting pigeons (Stephen rescues one in a slightly stretched simile for his relationship with Hilary).

Despite hailing from very different backgrounds and with starkly contrasting life experiences They’re drawn together by a shared love of music, cinema and figuring out their issues––her struggles with manic depression, he facing everyday racism in 1980s England, where the fascistic National Front is beginning to assert its power.

(L to R) Olivia Colman and Sam Mendes on set of the film ‘Empire of the Light.’ Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.

Mendes and legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins let their camera linger and rest, eschewing overly showy visuals in favor of beautifully lit moments that help the cast tell the story. And the watery sunlight of the coastal town also help paint the film in tonally appropriate grays, cut by fireworks and the neon lights of the cinema when it is gussied up for a “big” premiere.

It goes without saying that Colman is as excellent as ever. Brittle and withdrawn at first, though hiding that side with a forced cheery facade, she slowly unravels as the pressure of swirling emotions and years of trauma take their toll.

Yet she’s matched beat for beat by Ward, who offers a sensitive, charismatic portrayal of a young man still looking for his place in a world where he isn’t always welcome. Despite an early dalliance with Janine, Stephen lights up around Hillary, and Ward plays that to the hilt.

Firth sheds the charm that usually undercuts the stuffier characters he plays––while you can see why Hillary might be swayed by him, he’s basically a power-happy scumbag who bristles when he spots her while he’s out for dinner with his oblivious wife.

(L to R) Toby Jones and Olivia Colman in ‘Empire of Light.’ Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.

Around them, the rest of the employees are an appealing, if slightly archetypal ensemble: Janine as a punky rebel, Neil the lanky, agreeable type, Norman gruff but kindhearted. And then there are the customers, a quirky assortment of cinemagoers, some who need a little nudge in the direction of the rules (such as finishing your meal before stepping into the theater) and others who prove to be more hateful than the staff had suspected.

‘Empire of Light’ is largely a quiet drama punctuated by moments that pop, including Hillary’s stage-storming moment at the premiere to drop some truths and make a scene, and her ultimate dissolution.

Yet if Mendes true aim was to celebrate the power of cinema to lift you up, he falters slightly here. A lot of that heavy lifting is given over to Jones’ projectionist character, who has monologues explaining how his beloved machines work and the ability of what they project to lift hearts. It can be a little on the nose at times, and the actual act of watching movies is a sidenote until late in the film.

The director also seems unaware exactly where he wants to end his film, a couple of natural conclusions showing up and sliding by before the emotional punch of the real finale.

Tanya Moodie in ‘Empire of Light.’ Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.

A late act of racist violence, though keyed up earlier in the story, also feels vaguely out of place, the plot’s focus split for a subplot that has little fresh to say about race relations in the UK at the time and buttoned by an awkward scene between Hillary and Stephen’s mother Delia, played by Tanya Moodie. It does at least give us more of a glimpse into Stephen’s private life.

And none of its issues are enough to drag ‘Empire of Light’ into the murk. This is a thoughtful, reflective and often lovely film bolstered by its superb central performance and an evocative trip back to the 1980s (both their good and bad sides) likely to evoke nostalgic feelings even if you didn’t grow up in smalltown England.

With less of the self-conscious drawing on its director’s past than ‘The Fabelmans’, ‘Empire of Light’ offers its own dark charms and emotional fortitude.

‘Empire of Light’ receives 4 out of 5 stars.

(L to R) Micheal Ward and Olivia Colman in the film ‘Empire of Light.’ Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.
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December 10, 2022
‘Empire of Light’ Interviews: Olivia Colman and Sam Mendes

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Opening in theaters on December 9th is the new film ‘Empire of Light’ from Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes (‘American Beauty,’ ‘Skyfall’).

Set in an English coastal cinema in the early 1980’s called the Empire, Hilary Small (Olivia Colman) is a theater manager dealing with unwanted sexual advances from her boss Mr. Ellis (Colin Firth), and her own mental health issues.

When a younger man named Stephen (Micheal Ward) begins working at the theater, Hilary and he start a relationship that will eventually change both of their lives forever.

In addition to Oscar-winners Olivia Colman and Colin Firth, and Michael Ward, the cast also includes Toby Jones, Tom Brooke, Crystal Clarke, and Tanya Moodie.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Olivia Colman and director Sam Mendes about their work on ‘Empire of Light,’ how Mendes drew from his own childhood for the screenplay, Coleman’s approach to her character, Hilary’s relationship with Stephen, and creating the set on location.

Director Sam Mendes and Olivia Colman from ‘Empire of the Light.’

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Coleman, Mendes, Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Michael Ward, and Tanya Moodie.

Moviefone: To begin with, Sam, can you talk about writing the screenplay, setting it in the 1980’s, and the themes you wanted to explore with this project?

Sam Mendes: Well, I wanted to explore primarily mental illness with this character of Hillary, that’s based loosely on my own mother. Growing up in that time in the early 80’s with somebody who was struggling with her mental health and fighting not to be pulled down into the darkness the whole time.

At the same time, my teenage years in the early 80’s, were a time of great excitement musically and in movies. On the other hand, it was a time of great social upheaval, very high unemployment in the UK, racial tension riots and what have you. So for me it’s trying to find those two. There’s an internal struggle going on in her and there’s an external struggle in the world, and eventually they collide.

MF: Olivia, can you talk about your approach to playing Hillary and what were some of the aspects of the character you were excited to explore on screen?

Olivia Colman: I was excited about all of it apart from the sex scenes, which I was terrified of but they turned out well and everyone made them comfortable. But I didn’t want to let Sam down. He put a lot of trust in me to play someone that was very personal to him.

I had Sam every step of the way to help me, so I knew I could ask him anything. I knew he would always be honest and I could say, “So when someone’s coming off Lithium, what’s that like?” I had Sam to describe every moment of it to me. It made my job very easy and I was excited to give it a crack really.

Olivia Colman in ‘Empire of Light.’ Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.

MF: Can you also talk about the relationship between Hillary and Stephen, why they connect with each other and how that friendship changes both of their lives?

OC: I think they see each other in a way that, well, he sees her, which no one does. He sees beyond the fact that she’s much older than him and he’s quite impressed with her academic background. I think because he’s clearly an academic young man, it’s quite obvious that she sees a dazzling, beautiful, vibrant young creature come into her world.

Everyone’s looking at him because he’s so beautiful and she’s thrilled that they react to each other. It’s genuine love. It’s something that is never going to last obviously, but there is something beautiful between them and it sort of transcends age and color. It doesn’t matter to them. I think that’s what was lovely about it.

MF: Finally, Sam, can you talk about the challenges of finding the right location for this film and transforming the Dreamland Margate Cinema in Kent into the Empire theater?

SM: I mean there’s something about the English countryside, particularly the English coastline, especially in winter, that has a grandness to it. Bleak slate, gray skies, and I grew up in and around that coastline. For me, I wanted to find somewhere that had that sense of emptiness and beauty, but at the same time, it needed to have a cinema that just looked straight out to sea. It was based on a cinema I remember from my childhood that was in Brighton, but that’s long since gone.

Then we found this amazing giant art deco palace sitting on the coastline in Margate, which is on the North coast of Kent actually. So, it’s where J. M. W. Turner painted his great paintings, and where T.S. Eliot wrote “The Waste Land.“ It’s a place of real melancholy and strangeness, but beautiful as well.

There was the cinema and that gave us everything. I sort of moved in for a week and rewrote the script so that it fitted the environment, and it fit the location because I’d imagined a different kind of town, but I felt this was better. So, really we made it for and around this one seaside town and it gave us a lot.

(L to R) Olivia Colman and Sam Mendes on set of the film ‘Empire of the Light.’ Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.
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December 6, 2022