The sand man is an adaptation of a DC Comics series written by acclaimed author Neil Gaiman, the creative mind behind works like american gods and good omens. Gaiman tried to make an adaptation of The sand man for a long time; at one point it was intended to be a movie starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Morpheus.
A few years ago, Audible produced a star-studded audio drama of The sand man with James McAvoy in the lead role, much closer to what Gaiman had envisioned. It was my first introduction to this world, which is grand; the concepts that Gaiman plays with in this world are fascinating, concepts like “dream” and “desire” as real beings with realms of their own, similar to Lucifer in hell. There’s a lot to take in, but seeing this world I only imagined come to life makes television exciting and thoughtful.
The sandman’s review
For the Netflix adaptation, Morpheus/Dream is played by Tom Sturridge, who looks a lot like the artwork from the comics and has a surprisingly deep voice. It works well for the character and I have to imagine it’s very difficult to play a character who barely shows his emotions. Sometimes that makes him an unlikable protagonist because we emotionally connect with the characters. It helps that he’s captured and imprisoned for a century by Sir Roderick Burgess, another big bad character played by Charles Dance. During his absence, Morpheus’ realm, the Dream, has crumbled and he must recover his artifacts in order to restore his realm.
Unfortunately, Morpheus has quite an adversary in The Corinthian, played by Boyd Holbrook. I have to say I love that so many Holbrook characters wear sunglasses (Logan and Revenge are good examples). He has a swagger about him that’s very natural, and he’s clearly having a good time as a villain, despite not being one from his point of view. The Corinthian wants to be more than what Morpheus made of him: a nightmare. However, the way he does it is absolutely nightmarish.
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David Thewlis is another actor who has a great time in a villainous role, and Dr. John Dee is very different from his last DC outing in wonder woman. He’s a man who truly believes what he’s doing is right and will stop at nothing and make others do anything to get his way. There are so many other wonderful performances in this series, from Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer to Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine. Plus, Patton Oswalt and Mark Hamill play two incredible characters that you have to see to believe!
Globally, The sand man is a dark and bold DC adaptation that stays true to the work of Neil Gaiman; he was heavily involved in production, which is something creators absolutely should be. The ending will leave you wanting more of this world, and it’s certainly setting itself up for a second season. Hopefully audiences will tune in to it and Netflix will give it a chance to succeed. The cast, visuals, and score are all excellent and deserve as much credit as Batman and Superman do when it comes to DC.
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