Colin Farrell was born to play a cynical Los Angeles private detective who zooms around neon-lit streetscapes in a vintage convertible, his internal monologue narrated by flashbacks to classic noir movies. That’s the role he portrays to perfection in the agreeably cliche-strewn Sugar (Apple TV+, from today), a murky mystery series that gets its first big reveal out of the way at the outset. You’ll be shocked to discover that Farrell is a natural as a laconic PI with great hair, a handy right hook and a past strewn with demons.
His character, John Sugar, is introduced in classic James Bond/Indiana Jones fashion at the tail end of his latest successful mission. A Tokyo yakuza boss has flown him to Japan to track down the gangster’s abducted son.
Sugar locates the kidnapper and offers to give him a head start if he reveals the location of the missing boy. When the thug foolishly reaches for a knife, Sugar stoically beats him up. It is a bittersweet moment for a man to whom violence comes as naturally as breathing but who would rather speak softly than thump people over the head with a big stick (or two bunched fists).
Sugar, directed by City of God’s Fernando Meirelles, is a fantastic serving of old-school noir. Or at least it is until a twist towards the end of the eight-part season that will either deepen your appreciation of the series or have you reaching for the off button in derision. It’s a plucky choice – and a genuine surprise that Farrell works hard to sell. But if you don’t go with it you may feel you’ve wasted the previous five hours.
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In the first two episodes, however, there is lots to enjoy. Back in LA – and with the palette having turned from black and white to glorious colour – Sugar takes on a new job. It’s another missing-person case, this time concerning the granddaughter of a famous Hollywood director played by LA Confidential’s James Cromwell (later revealed to be one of Sugar’s favourite films).
The story from there expands into a gritty journey into the underbelly of Los Angeles. Kirby – formerly Kirby Howell-Baptiste – plays Sugar’s perpetually exasperated assistant, while Only Murders in the Building’s Amy Ryan turns up as a woman connected to the missing granddaughter.
It chugs along agreeably – up to that big pivot. But that’s all in the future. (The episode where everything shifts won’t be available until next month.) For now Sugar functions perfectly well as a shop window for Farrell, who excels as a conflicted anti-hero driving around Los Angeles thinking about Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum. He’s great – and, until the sky falls in, so too is Sugar.
