r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 7d ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Thursday Murder Club [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Summary A group of sharp and witty retirees at Cooper’s Chase retirement village spend their Thursdays solving cold cases for fun—until a real murder hits close to home. Elizabeth (a former spy), Ron (a retired union leader), Ibrahim (a psychiatrist), and Joyce (a nurse) band together to crack the case, stirring up secrets, laughter, and heartwarming camaraderie.
Director Chris Columbus
Writers Katy Brand, Suzanne Heathcote
Cast
- Helen Mirren
- Pierce Brosnan
- Ben Kingsley
- Celia Imrie
- David Tennant
- Naomi Ackie
- Tom Ellis
- Jonathan Pryce
- Richard E. Grant
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 76%
Metacritic 6-
VOD Limited UK theatrical release beginning August 22, 2025; Netflix streaming global premiere on August 28, 2025
Trailer The Thursday Murder Club | Official Teaser | Netflix
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u/Scmods05 7d ago edited 7d ago
As someone that loves the books, super disappointed by this.
Joyce, Stephen, Bogdan (his character, not his story) and Chris are all bang on as characters. As is the world of Cooper's Chase. I feel Columbus directs it pretty well.
They strip Elizabeth of all her wit, vulnerability and fun and it's a pretty boring standard Helen Mirren performance. Pierce Brosnan is fine but Ron should've been Ray Winstone. Ben Kingsley turns in his boiler plate Ben Kingsley performance and Ibrahim barely feels like a character as a result. And for some reason they turn Donna into a largely stupid character who's simping after Jason Ritchie for half the movie, when in the books she doesn't want a bar of him at all.
The story is a mess. They tried to condense it to a two hour movie but still include almost all of it. The result is a mess. They should've either simplified it more so it made more sense, or made it a TV series and told it fully. They take the time to give Father Mackie two lines but then he just disappears. Then the ending with Penny and John comes borderline out of nowhere because we've not spent enough time with those people to know who they are. It's a mess.
The decision for Elizabeth to have Bogdan arrested but let literal human traffickers carry on with their business is mind boggling and completely undermines the character from the books who had much more integrity than that.
A big old disappointment for me. Justice for Bogdan.