There are a couple of spy thrillers with similar names out right now.

The new Netflix series, Black Doves, just aired. This British spy thriller series was created by Joe Barton and stars skinny girl Keira Knightley (as previously mentioned I have been in love with her since “Bend it Like Beckham”).

The pilot starts off with the murder of three people, one of which was Knightley’s (former?) love affair. It sets off a revenge plot. Knightley calls back her old colleague shotgun Sam (played by Ben Whishaw), and they try to find out what is going on.

Personally speaking, I didn’t really like seeing all the backstory of how Knightley got recruited into Black Doves, or “Triggerman” Sam’s backstory (or current love situation).

I also didn’t particularly like the humor of the two women assassins. They looked so beautiful, it’s like they were models doing a comedy bit as professional assassins. I think their tones were off, because the rest of the series is taken so seriously. It’s a dark thriller with lots of blood and deaths. If the two girl assassins had their own television series, with a funny tone, I would watch that… but they just didn’t belong in Black Doves.

As the show progresses, you find out that the murders involve the US, the UK, the Chinese, and some new underground modern-day “Freemasons” the Carters.

I think the show is fine as a spy-thriller… and Netflix thinks so too, so they are renewing the show for a second season. I’ll look forward to seeing Knightley again next year!

Canary Black
amazon.com

There is film called Canary Black from Amazon Prime. The movie is about a spy who is living a normal life, until her husband gets kidnapped and forced to obtain the mysterious “Canary Black.”

Originally, I thought this was called Black Canary, based on DC Comics’ super heroine… but it was apparent that this action, spy-thriller, was far from it.

The film does star one of my favorite girl action stars, Kate Beckinsale, who you may remember is the lead in those Underworld movie. I think she’s still very good looking, even though some people might say she’s aging out of that action star role.

Canary Black is a forgettable film, with a very predictable ending. Of course, Beckinsale saves the day and there’s a dumb twist at the end (that everyone saw coming).

I’m not the only one that didn’t like the movie, the film got one-star reviews and the Tomatometer shows 18%. One fan/reviewer wrote that this was Kate Beckinsale’s worst film.

My favorite scene in the movie is how Beckinsale dealt with an explosive mine, it looks pretty cool (even though implausible).