Undercover: Exposing the Far Right; The Franchise

“Havana Marking’s film isn’t just a good documentary – it’s a great one. Over 90 minutes, it follows investigators from the organisation Hope Not Hate as they track down far-right extremists. At first, this seems like an unnecessary endeavour: social media feels flooded with the ‘alt-right’ broadcasting their views. The race rioters in Britain – and in the US at Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 and the Capitol in 2021 – weren’t exactly trying to conceal themselves. But as it continues, the importance of their work becomes increasingly evident.”
Leila Latif, The Guardian

“The documentary had all the ingredients in place for a rollicking story – tension, risk, relevance; a knife-edge investigation that intrigued till the end – but it was a well-made piece of television, too. Laced among the multiple revelations was just enough background on the Hope Not Hate founders and operatives to lend their crusade emotional heft.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“There was brave journalism here. The undercover reporter Harry Shukman showed zero fear and indeed great courage in posing for more than a year as a like-minded supporter called ‘Chris’. His days as an undercover journalist are surely now over, given that his face appears throughout the film.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“There are some good – if never great – lines and images scattered around. But it is mainly a wearying litany of difficulties and failures. The overall experience is, ironically, rather like that of watching a second- or third-tier superhero movie. Relentless noise and fury signifying, in the end, not quite enough.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“It spoofs the soul-selling misery of making a Marvel-type film, but often the satire feels too gentle for such a huge target. The opening scene, with a camera on Daniel as he walks through a chaotic set like a parent dealing with ludicrous children is compelling. But thereafter the show feels somehow underpowered as if only firing on three of its four funny cylinders.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Yes, the Marvel films are at times imbecilic. On the other hand, millions of people paid good money to watch them. Is The Franchise saying that we’re the mugs? Neither of these two queries hole The Franchise below the waterline, but they do question why it exists. The question is whether in a world full of venality and awfulness, franchise superhero movies are the thing that really needs a good kicking.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“The Franchise isn’t damning enough to cause some sort of reckoning upon Hollywood’s franchise factory. But it is cutting enough to lift the curtain on what it’s really like to pander to an industry that constantly changes its mind and has no room for originality. The truth may not be pretty – but it certainly is laughable.”
Emily Baker, The i