We are very aware of the most important film action saga of recent years, the one that shares its name with its main protagonist: John Wick (we have plenty of reasons why we love Keanu Reeves). But what about series? To whom does that honor belong? There is one that we have to highlight first: ‘Cobra Kai’. The (late) Netflix sequel starring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka that proves that respect and love for the source material combined with nostalgia is the best way to pay homage to your own legacy. The art of giving and polishing wax is back stronger than ever. Along with it, we can also find ‘Kaleidoscope’, an original series of robberies and robberies starring Giancarlo Esposito Y peace vega in which they propose to carry out an epic coup, but in which betrayal and greed will make the aforementioned plan to win 7,000 million dollars more fragile than it seems.
The word “action” almost immediately suggests a heroic concept of cape and superpowers. For example, here we can find proposals like ‘The Umbrella Academy‘one of the best superhero series in history and ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’which some of us continue to defend as one of the best Netflix series in 2021. Ok, maybe this is an exaggeration, but it certainly deserves to be claimed as one of the best superhero series to watch on Netflix.
And special mention deserve proposals like ‘The Money Heist’ Y ‘Vikings: Valhalla’, two of the most addictive Netflix series of recent years. For the first, not much introduction is needed. ‘The paper house’ is, without a doubt, the most important fiction that television has given in our country, while the sequel to ‘Vikings’ has before it the responsibility of inheriting the legacy of a cult series that, for the moment, it continues to be superior. Let’s give it some time.
By the way, ‘The paper house’ and ‘Red Sky‘ They share a common name, that of Álex Pina, also creator of such popular series as ‘El embarcadero’, ‘Los hombres de Paco’ and ‘Vis a vis’, among others. Pina has known how to find the difficult key to success in each of the productions that come out of his head, the one that suspends the credibility of what we are seeing, while keeping us glued to the sofa with a nervous breakdown. On this occasion, in the series starring Verónica Sánchez, Lali Esposito and Yany Prado, he has added an extra dose of bad milk and neon lights to show that tackiness is not incompatible with punching.
‘Kleo’ is one of those Netflix series that doesn’t look good but is quite good, thanks to its large doses of action, good rhythm and fun in a setting as propitious as Cold War Berlin. In it we meet the GDR spy Kleo (Jella Haase), who killed a businessman in West Berlin in 1987, and was soon arrested by the Stasi. After being released in 1989, the year in which the wall fell, she realizes that she is in the middle of a great intrigue and also with the perfect excuse to carry out a great revenge.
This series of heists starring Giancarlo Esposito, Paz Vega, Rufus Sewell and Jai Courtney It has become one of the sensations of 2023, especially for that peculiar and original possibility of being able to choose the path you want to follow in historyLike “choose your own adventure”. If you’ve gotten lost among so many open roads, we’ll explain the end of ‘Kaleidoscope’ that, as in all thefts and robberies, nothing goes as expected.
Álex Pina’s proposal after the global phenomenon of ‘La casa de papel’. On this occasion, we dive into a world of neons, nightmares and pimping influenced by Tarantino’s cinema in which three young prostitutes try to escape from their suffocating reality. A proposal that has divided the networks around a juicy debate: ‘Red Sky’: Tarantinian adventure or misogynistic frivolization? Well, maybe a little of each, but what is clear is that it is orno series needed, which shows the sordid business of exploiting and trafficking women for sexual purposes. The end of the third season of ‘Sky Rojo’ in 2023 means the end of the series.
Direct sequel to the third installment from 1989 -so much so, that here’s why ‘Cobra Kai’ will continue to pay homage to ‘Karate Kid’- and a love letter to nostalgia of those far away 80s. One of the most gratifying surprises in recent years, made with such care and heart that, thanks to its constant tributes to the saga, makes this one even better (with special detail to Avildsen’s original). We are looking forward to it season 6 of ‘Cobra Kai’. The bad new? It will be the last.
Series based on the comics by Gerard Way, the former leader of the band ‘My Chemical Romance’. In it, the action goes hand in hand with science fiction, drama and comedy to introduce us to a peculiar family of superheroesamong which Elliot Page and Robert Sheehan stand out, with various abilities and powers that will be seen forced to work together to solve the death of their father. After three intense seasons, we are looking forward to it. Season 4 of ‘The Umbrella Academy’ will mark the end of the series.
As he already did in ‘Cell 211’, Albert Ammann once again enters a prison, a psychiatric one this time, to star in one of the most adrenaline-fueled series of the year. Waiting to find out what will happen in the next season of ‘The Longest Night’, this first approach introduces us to Hugo (Ammann), the director of a prison who will put all his efforts to prevent a group of assailants from managing to take away a dangerous serial killer, to which Luis Callejo gives life. All this, in six frantic episodes that develop during the night of December 24. And you who wanted a quiet Christmas.
The quintessential animated spy satire. ‘Archer’ is a veteran -about to start her 13th season- and her protagonist, Sterling Archer, an icon that has evolved over the years, as in its fifth season, renamed ‘Archer Vice’, in which its creator decided to move away from the espionage plot and explore the possibilities of drug trafficking. Any excuse is good to save the world. And attention to the excellent animationa prodigy.
If an action thriller out of South Korea is accompanied by the word “revenge,” like Park Chan-wook’s wonderful trilogy, it has our full attention. ‘My name’ is, in effect, the revenge story of a woman who, after witnessing the horrible death of his fatherit is proposed find his killer to carry out the worst retaliation imaginable. A plot full of surprises that will not leave you indifferent and with Han So-hee, its main protagonist, in charge of a masterful performance. And if yours is rancor, you can always review the best revenge movies in cinema.
In ‘The Shooter’, ryan philippe (yes, he continues to pursue acting) plays Bob Lee Swagger, a highly decorated ex-marine who decides to come out of retirement to defend the life of the president of the United Stateswithout being aware that is the perfect scapegoat of a conspiracy politics. The argument sounds familiar to you, right? ‘The Shooter’ is a series based on the 2007 film of the same name starring Mark Wahlberg (here in production) and on the novel ‘Point of Impact’ by author Stephen Hunter.
Comic adaptation by Mark Millar (author of ‘Kick-Ass’) and Frank Quitely. Forget ‘The Boys’, the feminist and anti-capitalist Trojan horse and ‘Invincible’. With its mistakes and successes, ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’ is a different proposal that is well worth a viewing thanks to your successful philosophical tone and to the employment of plots that all turn in the same direction: that of the family and the legacy between classic superheroes and their successors. A pity that we will not be able to see a second season, since ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’ has been canceled by Netflix, but everything seems to indicate that it will have a spin-off.
eleven‘Robbers: The Series’
Series of six chapters derived from the film ‘Robbers’, in which the director Julien Leclercq repeats with the actor Sami Bouajila as the leader of the robbers. This French production is one of those that can be consumed on its own, in the twinkling of an eye, thanks to its frenetic pace and a a plot that hooks from the first episode. Hint: maybe making drug dealers angry is not in the number one of the best ideas. If it were a feature film, it would definitely make the list of the best heist and robbery movies on Netflix.
‘Narcos: Mexico’which was originally going to be the fourth season of the series starring Pedro Pascal, is a remarkable sequel. The main difference with the mother series? It is less explosive (something that has a lot to do with the difference in characters between the characters of Pablo Escobar and Félix Gallardo, played by Diego Luna here). Has a slow cooking that it may be that at first it can throw you back, but it is a series that goes from less to more. A year later, we still don’t understand why ‘Narcos: Mexico’ has been canceled after its third season.
Series based on the saga of historical novels by Bernard Cornwell about the birth of England in which they excel Exceptional staging and setting. The fierce resistance of a divided England at the key time of the Viking invasions makes ‘The Last Kingdom’ one of those Netflix adventure series that you cannot miss, even though it is one of the series canceled in 2022.
A runaway success which translates to one of the most viewed Netflix series ever. It is true that ‘The paper house’ has been squeezed a lotPerhaps too much, but that does not take away from the fact that the most important robbery perpetrated by the gang of robbers led by The Professor is related to our hours of sleep, those sleepless nights biting our nails at each shocking new twist. After its end, there were many of us who said something beautiful, bye, bye, bye!, but if stealing the gold reserve of the Bank of Spain and robbing the National Currency and Stamp Factory is hard for you, get ready because this 2023 ‘Berín’ arrives, the spin off based on the character he played masterfully Pedro Alonso.
‘Vikings: Valhalla’ is the sequel set one hundred years after ‘Vikings‘, the popular series starring Travis Fimmel. Therefore, we already know what we can expect from this fiction: action, great battles and unexpected twists that will make you want to see the next episode.
If you still haven’t decided to give this sequel a try, the cast of ‘Vikings: Valhalla’ talks us through their characters so you can get to know them better before you witness the end of the Viking Age.
Jorge Fernandez Mencias
Editor who talks about cinema, especially horror and science fiction, the perfect balance between the silence of space and the thunderous scream of the slasher.
