The Witness for the Prosecution (2016)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I'll tell you why so serious

Absolutely Fantastic

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

It was a mistake to advertise this version as a return to Agatha Christie's original short story. The script does jettison at least one memorable addition that was not in the original, but it also adds a great deal of extra material. Some of the material harmonizes very well with the story, and it has to do with a look, from here in the future, back at things that, during the period in which Christie was writing, were taken for granted. The indelible trauma of the First World War, the yawning gap between the haves and have-nots. The actors help sell the point that these are not just reminders of history but also reminders of human nature. The fleshing-out draws the viewer into the story more deeply than many playful or even mechanical Christie-inspired movies have done, but ultimately it wanders into territory that Christie herself, I suspect, wouldn't have entered and perhaps wouldn't even have endorsed.

I would vote lower and say that this was awful- however the acting and much of the production was excellent. Where this effort goes off track with me is the title Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution. It may have been based on or inspired by - but it is defiantly not her story. Miss Christie's story focused on the mystery surrounding the truth about whether or not a man had committed murder and just exactly who was telling the truth. This production focuses on a solicitor grieving the death of his son and how because of that grief he deluded himself into believing lies on all fronts. His delusions result in the freeing of the guilty the death of the innocent and even to his own suicide. This is a completely different story. Not a bad story but certainly one that did not require the complete bastardization of Miss Christie's original work to tell. Any effort that could have been made by the BBC to not delude the audience that this is Miss Christie's story would have been a help to this story - but the BBC chose not to make any effort in order to capitalize on the Christie name and draw an audience. Shame on the BBC. Badly done.

I don't need police brutality lecture when I am watching an Agatha Christie mystery. For one thing, my sympathy is firmly with police of American and all European countries, who are good enough to keep on protecting us, even as rampant immigration makes our cities more dangerous. So I didn't appreciate the thinly veiled dig at the police. The BBC really needs to be aware that not all viewers are liberals, a fact that has escaped them. Perhaps they should leave entertainment as entertainment. I also didn't particularly appreciate the swearing. It seemed forced and out of place. Don't get me wrong, I don't object to foul language on principle. I only disliked it here because it was so obviously an attempt to set themselves apart from ITV Chritie by being more "modern" except that it wasn't. It was just more childish. Aside from that, i actually fell asleep during the first episode. It was all talk, talk, talk. the camera didn't even move. The characters were not that dynamic, and they were not that deep. it wasn't terrible, but I can't say i enjoyed the show. And can people PLEASE STOP SAYING THAT THIS IS "REALISTIC"! Just because they are coughing in bed doesn't add realism. Considering how completely stupid the answer to the mystery turned out, based on an absurd, and impossible coincidence, I would say this is a hundred times less realistic then the original Agatha Chritie story. I have never seen the other movie of this show, so i am not comparing it to anything, but I think this was completely rotten. The writer needs to get the political correctness bug out, and stop trying so hard to make the shows dreary. The ITV version of Agatha Christie was often dark, and some episodes left me crying ( Five Little Pigs) because the end was so bittersweet. It was still excellent. I am not expecting a "delicious fun murder". I don't even like that. But this is terrible. And it is the furthest thing from realistic.

Here's a little test that will help you decide whether to watch this flick or not.Say you're a screenwriter. One night you lie awake in bed thinking about the classic film 'Witness for the Prosecution' with the plot by Agatha Christie, starring Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power, Elsa Lanchester and John Williams — and of course directed by Billy Wilder. You are thinking something was missing from that film, but you can't figure out what it was. Then it hits you: SEX. And not just sex, but sex and degradation. That's the ticket! A remake with more sex and degradation. That's what the world needs now. So the next day you wake up and you make this film. Was this a good idea, or a bad idea?If the correct answer is not obvious to you, there's a chance that you'll enjoy this movie.