Criminal Justice 2008

I watched the 1st episode of “The Night Of” when HBO previewed it early. The acting and production quality are very good, but overall it moved along rather slowly. When the episode ended, I found it good enough continue when the series formally starts — but didn’t mind waiting.

I read somewhere that “The Night Of” was actually a remake of a 2008 British mini-series “Criminal Justice”. The remake is 8 episodes, the original is 5 episodes. I watched the 1st episode of the BBC production to compare.

Noticeable immediately was the quicker pace of the story. Much more engaging when it hasn’t been stretched out with 3 hours of additional material. I also prefer the way the original suggests undesirable elements of the criminal justice system in general rather than the emphasis on racial profiling of “The Night Of” remake.

Now that I’ve watched the story as originally told, I have no desire to watch the HBO version. Based on the first episodes, I’ve seen the better one and have moved on to season 2 of BBC’s “Criminal Justice” -- different cast and story, and just as good as the first season.

Good start...okay middle...disappointing ending.
The story was too fast paced it didn't get time to build on characters so some things felt rather forced. The relationship with the lawyer and defendant for example.
Also how they just drop in an unknown person as the perpetrator right at the end! What's the point of that? What were his motives?

The US version managed to approach the screenplay better. It actually shows you the effects of the criminal justice system as we see an innocent man fall victim to it and starts doing drugs and aiding in a murder in prison.