From poster to trailer, this has an air of "look at me, I'm am so important"
All posters of this Apple+ special has its main actors (Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery and Jaeden Martell) posing in 'artfully' lit shots like of puffed up importance. Already you are looking at models rather than people.
The trailer (and its vapid blue look) confirms my fears.
Let's stay on the poster for a while, though.
That shiny light on Apple+ logo is over all the written text on the poster. The series, or shall I say product, is indistinguishable from the company that produced it. Apple tries to push the idea that "this must be good because its from our company".
Now that might work for phones but this is a completely different category.
The series is based on the bestselling (aren't they all) book of the same name. This type of plot already screams "TV Movie" and the trailer doesn't disappoint. Despite a murder, arrest and people crying it also fails to convey what kind of film it is. If its a courtroom drama there are hardly any shots of courtrooms, if its a thriller there is hardly anything happening except reactions of surprise and if its a psychological drama then, God saves us, it looks more interested in the exteriors.
The bluish look gives it a strange claustrophobia and I actually laughed when Evans' character muses about life as "before and after". The trailer quickly cuts to the 'happy times' at before with all three laughing and then them going down the courtroom stairs at the 'sad times' of the after. On the nose dialogue aside, the only difference that stands out is the yellow, warm look of "before" and the blue-grey of "after".
I am not saying that this is definitely going to be a terrible thing, but like Chris Evans' perfectly shaped beard, it comes across as too clinical and cold to be effective.
VERDICT: No, thanks!