‘Messiah’ gets a blasting from critics

THE reviews are in for Netflix’s controversial new show Messiah – and critics are not happy with the series’ “meandering”, “corny” and “inconclusive” plot. The 10-part thriller, which debuted on the streaming platform on Wednesday, portrays a mysterious religious leader who emerges in the Middle East and leads 2 000 Palestinian Syrians into Israel while being pursued by the CIA.

It imagines how modern society would react if a Messiah figure appeared today, spreading his message rapidly via social media in a world grappling with “fake news” and breathless 24-hour bulletins.

The question of whether the character, al-Masih (Mehdi Dehbi), is the genuine Messiah, a nefarious political agent or simply a trickster is at the heart of the show’s premise.

The series faced a significant backlash ahead of its release as more than 3 500 people signed a petition condemning the series as “evil and anti-Islamic propaganda”.

Critics found that while it was clear that creator Michael Petroni put a lot of thought and careful consideration into the story, the plot lacked the momentum to such a serious degree that most reviews recommended skipping it altogether.

Decider’s Joel Keller was among those who advised readers to leave Messiah off their watch list.

“It’s not that Messiah is bad, but there’s really no compelling reason to watch it,” Keller wrote. “And the religious and cultural implications of how the story is setting up make us squinchy. Between that and the first episode’s overall boringness, we’d rather spend our time elsewhere.”

The Messiah trailer drew ridicule from Muslim viewers, who noted the name “Al-Masih” is used in Islamic theology by Dajjal, a false prophet comparable to the Antichrist. Netflix quashed claims this was a spoiler… its Twitter account noted “that’s not actually the character’s name” – and plot details remain embargoed. | Daily Mail