Catch-22

good series

Clunky, plodding miniseries adaptation suffers similarly to Nichols' film in that it gets the words but not the music - a largely dry and talky affair that attempts to grapple with Heller's "Who's on First" scenarios but lacks the screwball pacing the material requires. Abbott is a solemn (and solid) anchor to proceedings, and some flashes of nice character work (especially from Laurie and Clooney) makes it watchable; gorgeous cinematography at least makes outdoor moments fun to luxuriate in.

Mostly well-done adaptation of great book.

I cant say that I am an officionado of the book, but this story was pretty enjoyable with my superficial knowledge. From a great comedic opening (with Clooney showing what a fine actor he is) the story progresses to Yasarians final acceptance(?) that he is not going anywhere (unless covered in a flag) but as Deepdoop explained very well, didnt seem to get very far from where it started. A lot of dialogue was swamped in background noise, and many characters where pretty interchangeable, but fun.

Somehow over only 6 episodes it overstays its welcome, but I still think it's good, and I'm not saying that the last episode isn't good. There are potent moments here where it hits greatness from an emotional and comedic standpoint but I found the sameness of it a little tedious at times. You can place a story in the same few environments but hang that sameness on good dialogue/writing. Catch-22 doesn't succeed as much as I would have liked but I'd still consider it good.

I don't judge the adaptation. I judge a complete series. And as a series is great. An antiwar satiric masterpiece. A hymn for the stupidity of the high ranked officers of the armies all over the world, that under the cover of "serving the country" they just serve their personal ego. A hymn for the unfortunate soldiers that have to follow blindly the "commands" of the brainless ?rangutans, given only to satisfy their higher-ranked ?rangutans.

Had high hopes for this one. It was alright, maybe a bit too long, perhaps 4 episodes would have sufficed. I thought Clooney played his character a little too "buffoony". If situations are wacky then the characters don't need to be.

Technically it's good, well shot and all. My problem is I want to know about all the other characters.