Boxer_007

House of the Dragon can't hold a candle to Game of Thrones - not in action, script, or acting. Feels like most the budget went to marketing & CGI while very little into actual storytelling and creative direction. Very slow development between episodes, repetetive dialogues, zero momentum. Using Cáceres instead of Dubrovnik for King's Landing location was also a miss in my opinion. The scenography in general seems to be lacking.

Overall, the few suspenseful scenes sprinkled throughout have very little impact as the viewer is already disengaged. There's hardly any element of surprise nor are you invested in the demise or well-being of characters. Everything somehow just falls flat.

Nicole Kidman & Zac Efron casted as love interests? Unfortunately didn't work at all. The storyline seemed rushed and relied more on their name recognition rather than actual chemistry and believability. Also, as plenty have already noted - the cosmetic surgeries are extremely distracting. Their faces are completely emotionless, stiff, and overall unpleasant to watch. There are hundreds of talented actors and actresses out there with natural faces waiting for a big break so these two were an artistic miscast in my opinion. There are other rom coms with famous celebrities such as Your Place or Mine (Reese Witherspoon & Ashton Kutcher) and Ticket to Paradise (Julia Roberts and George Clooney) that were executed much better.

The first few episodes were honestly quite underwhelming. It felt pretentious, the pacing was slow, poor chemistry between the two leads. We get to experience the early stages of Mr & Mrs. Smiths relationship that is borderline awkward, but not in the endearing or romantic way. Around episode 5 things start to pick up in terms of pacing, more action-filled missions, higher stakes, and improved humor. The main characters also get some depth even though the chemistry still remains lacking.

Overall a decent action/dark comedy series that won't blow you away but neither will it put you to sleep, especially the second half. Hopefully a second season can keep the momentum.