‘The Swarm’ Converts Ecological Collapse Into Pacy, Briny Pulp: Berlinale TV Review
variety.comMike McCahill Guest Contributor Why complicate matters? “The Swarm” – which premiered its first three episodes at the Berlinale Series – is one of those expensive pan-global coproductions necessitating copious logistics, not least a carefully observed quota of performers from each territory pumping money into the production pot.
Its opener generates a not inconsiderable carbon footprint, whisking us from Peru to Canada and thence the Scottish Highlands.
The series title, meanwhile, invites confusion with not just 1978’s infamous Michael Caine venture – a disaster movie in all senses – but Donald Glover and Janine Nabers’ Prime Video-bound “Swarm”, itself launching next month.
In and of itself, however, this eight-parter proves reassuringly straightforward and familiar. Its briny pulp – dredged from Frank Schätzing’s 2004 novel, a Central European bestseller originally earmarked for big-screen adaptation by the late Dino De Laurentiis – preys heavily on viewer fears of ecological collapse, and what might be lurking for us all beneath the planet’s watery depths.
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