The Swarm

The actors are just bad, there's a lot of staring and every dialogue seems tense and passive aggressive for some reason, I think they tried to create character depth with some sort of relationship backstory between the main characters. Doesn't work. Every episode feels so incredibly boring. CGI looks bad. The sound effects are horrible (why does a video call have a modem dial up sound? Why does a buoy ping like a WW2 submarine?) Visuals are good, 1 star for that. Very sad to see tax payers money go up in flames like that. Even the books author doesn't want anything to do with this. I couldn't stand watching the 3rd episode.

I read the book twice and it is mind blowing to me, how they managed to ruin this originally great story. The sfx is 15 years behind, there's way too much focus on romantic relations between the chracters and the menacing story behind the swarm almost seems like a side storyline. Probably to save money, but if you choose to make a book adaptation of a great ecological disaster story, you have to go all the way. It's boring and I would've never thought you could adapt this story in a boring way. Frank Schätzing wrote the book almost in a screenplay kind of way and they could've just trusted this path.

The Swarm is definitely not a good show. Horrific acting, laughable dialogue and amateurish writing make watching it downright painful at times. On top of that it might be the worst adaption of a book I've ever seen on screen. Still, you might be able to enjoy it if you've got a soft spot for bad European television. Among all the issues that plague the show, poorly written dialogue und bad acting are probably the main offenders. A lot of the scenes are just actors who cant be bothered to act reading stilted and boring dialogue thats chock-full of exposition. Were definitely in B-Movie territory here and the few good performances we see aren't enough to save the show. The creators also did a bad job at adapting the source material. Pointless stuff is added, important characters removed and nobody could be bothered to properly update the 20 year old technical aspects from the original book. It basically feels like a bunch of semi talented individuals got together to burn film subsidies without any passion or creativity. Yes, it's that bad. Yet you might be able to enjoy the show if you want something to make fun of while digesting your Sunday dinner. There's a tradition in Germany to watch a mediocre crime drama called "Tatort" every Sunday just to hang out with friends and make fun of bad TV. The Swarm is hitting that exact same spot. Sounds good? Then cozy up, grab a bag of chips and gently doze off while watching a global desaster you couldn't care less about.

The Swarm is a bad series for me. The producers fail at the basics, no tension, excitement or emotion. The scenes are heavy handed, boring and over cautious. Typical of this when German co-produce . The book is more exciting than the series, which lacks inspiration and fails to engage emotionally. It is a prime example of worthless entertainment that has no respect for the audience. Overall, I was very disappointed with the series and the producers should do a better job of meeting audience expectations and treating the audience with respect. The Swarm is a bad series for me. The producers fail at the basics, no tension, excitement or emotion. The scenes are heavy handed, boring and over cautious. Typical of this when German co-produce . The book is more exciting than the series, which lacks inspiration and fails to engage emotionally. It is a prime example of worthless entertainment that has no respect for the audience. Overall, I was very disappointed with the series and the producers should do a better job of meeting audience expectations and treating the audience with respect.

I heard a few bad things before watching. I don't agree with them. Having seen three episodes so far, it seems to be a good show. Of course, there are five more episodes to go. We will see if they change my mind. What's good so far is the build up of suspense. You get the idea that there is something up pretty fast, but you are kept clueless about the details. Some think it's a bit long-winded, but I like the pace of the first three episodes. They saved money and kept the action/disaster scenes a bit short, but I don't mind that too much. I read the book when it came out, almost 20 years ago. I don't remember much, so I don't mind that there are differences.

Originally, I thought the show had a promising start and hoped that it'd work itself out, but after watching all 8 episodes, this is a huge disappointment. I am now submitting my revised review. Why certain things were changed from the source material is just astoundingly baffling. It's not unusual these days to just throw in some unnecessary woke elements that have absolutely no significance to the story, but there are major story elements that were changed for no apparent reason. I could understand if certain things won't come across well on screen or difficult to capture, but they just simply appeared to make ad hoc changes when there was nothing wrong with the source. What you end up with is just a terribly paced mess with most of the scientific material removed and replaced with "feelings" and "intuition". Even the little bit of science they managed to keep in the screenplay, they screwed around with that, as well. Apparently, no one read the book! This production squandered a great opportunity with a terrific international cast and a big budget. I can see why so many reviewers are infuriated and torching this show.

Typical German production. A very flat story. There is no depth to the characters. Again and again the tension during story telling is lost through irrelevant dialogues of irrelevant, common characters. Here and now some intrigues between some lovers are told, be they have zero impact on the whole story. I cannot even remember the names anymore. I think the basis is original and cool, but the production is poorly made. There was a lot more potential. The series is produced in English and was then synchronized by the original German actors. Partially the voice acting didn't match the picture. It was weird.