User reviews

Black Crows gave me very mixed feelings. I watched the show while in Syria, at the time when ISIS was going down. I was inclined to watch the show, despite the mixed reviews, mostly to exercise my arabic. Still, since I survived the whole thing, I would love to share a few observations with you guys.

The show is trying very hard to be aesthetically pleasing, with modern sleek direction, textbook lighting, good sound, etc. Still, due to all these elements, everything looks very unrealistic. Syria, especially in the rural areas is very dirty, poorly lit, and noisy. Unfortunately the show keeps reminding you that is being filmed in a nice clean studio.

The cast is suffering from the same issue. It is too "clean". You won't find your average ISIS fighter face within the cast. Covering all their faces with make up all the time doesn't help either....

The script is definitely based on research, albeit one of a sophomore university student. All the characters are like caricatures, very single dimensional. All behaviors and events are barely touched to their root cultural or political causes. The show will help the ignorant see few of the horrors that took place in the IS, but will not help someone who was already informed to do anything than visualize them (and the visuals are also borderline acceptable!). Also, throughout the show, there are so many characters behaving so irrationally (no, I am not referring to religious irrationality) that makes you want to jump in the screen and slap them in the face!

All in all, I would suggest the show to those who have some extra time to kill and are interested in watching an arabic production about ISIS. But... If you want to get a better sense of things, stick to your documentaries. If you are looking for quality ISIS splatter, stick to your bestgore visits.

If you prefer first degree, stay away, if you enjoy second degree stay tuned. This is a saudi-lebanese coproduction of pure anti Isis propaganda, i believe that most of the horrors portrayed are actually true but the treatment is so over the top and caricatural that one cannot help but laugh. Isis leaders are cast as were villains in spaghetti westerns, while all Isis would be joiners are as dimwitted as thugs in home alone, of course on the other hand spies concerned parents or oppressed minorities are heroically portrayed as stallonian or schwartzenegerian heralds of virtue and courage. So don't come and watch this looking for enlightenment, you'll remain in the dark probably puzzled and nonplussed as to why such non luminaries cause such a threat, and anyone on the brink of joining these monsters will not be swayed by what he watches. But if, like me, your cynicism is stronger than your militant side you may get a good laugh out of this, villains as nuanced as death wish's, heroes as half shaded as star wars', cliffhangers as revealing as burqas, you will get it all, and oh yes the mufti shot JR.

Dispense with your need for sophisticated acting and production. This is a homegrown Middle Eastern production showing us how it was under Isis. Watch it.

Just wow... this is bad on so many levels... bad actors, horrible plot, bad scenery, bad music... Do yourself a favor and don't waste so many hours of your life, like me. Good idea, though, hence the 3 stars.

A hilarious lampoon of Isis? I hope so--I was laughing my ass off!

The script is poor, the dialogue silly, and the acting even worse. Not even remote;y factual or believable.

There's plenty of credible information out there on what it's like to be live under a terrorist cell, but you aren't going to find it here.

I am only on the first episode, but these are my first impressions:

Glad to see MBC TV make it to Netflix. Good TV told from the Arabic lenses, and deals with sensitive topics such as loss, gender, class, and cultural values. The show provides unabashed realism of the vast gray areas between a secular Islam and fanatic fundamentalism, writ large.

What I like is to see a series that goes beyond typical West VS East, cosmopolitan VS terrorist values, good guys VS bad guys plots associated with today's, pretty much universal, "Other": ISIS.

Also, the show tackles gender and terrorism in a very 2018 way, meaning that the women here are self-aware and possess a sense of personal power and purpose.

Finally, while the dialogue is good, the acting and filmography are so expressive, the vignettes are interrelated, yet tightly constructed, and the suspense is so palpable that the linguistic barrier is quite negligible. Very little cognitive dissonance. In comparison, I don't think a Bollywood series could do this or has done this. Definitely has a Netflix or Amazon series production feel. Overall, very good TV, glad I found it!

Worst actors ever.This is a joke.I couldn't watch past ten minutes of the first episode.

I don't think that there can exist two series or even films which speak of this kind of scheme, of topic. How an ISIS cell really works. ISIS from the Inside. OK, this TV show is produced by Saoudians and shot in Lenabon. Saoudians were, a few years ago, too much implicated with the Muslims extremists - or at least suspected by the international community - and then they decided to produce this stuff to make things clear to the rest of the world. This series is outstanduing but not flawless either. I think there are too many clichés, that we could consider as propaganda, anti ISIS propaganda...But, on the other side, if ISIS works this way, is this really propaganda? But some scènes in this series are maybe too simple, to easily shown, in a too much didactic way...As if it was made for idiots, or for children. See what I mean? But that remains a true interesting series. A real must see. But I don't think it will be shown everywhere in the world, even in the western Europe. I discovered it thu Netflix. Thanks Netflix.

This is the second Arab series after Al Hayba and I lost any hope to watch any acting talent. Unfortunately this was a bloated disappointment. It failed my expectations as I expected to see more how actually these fanatic morons in the name of God recruit, their strategy, how they tortured people and abuse women. Nonetheless I found ridiculous the flogging part or the bomb activating. Terrible acting, useless dialogues, substandard production. Such a waste!

This is the worst acting I have ever seen its even worse than Bollywood acting. The characters are not believable and the only way you can tell something dramatic is happening is by the music certainly not the actors. Was this intended as a comedy but it does not work as that either.

Really stupid and unrealistic I just watched it for killing time there are better isis themed series thentbidm this is an embarrassment.

One of the worst shows I have ever watched, no plot, no flow to the action, and the editing and directing is almost childish.

People want to watch because of the ISIS factor, but a few episodes in the comedy of how badly it is done kicks in.... had to force myself to finish it just to see how they were going to end it.

This series is far from western standards in several ways: plot, direction, acting, photography, etc. This doesn't mean it is bad. It is different. The most important thing is the fact it offers an arabian point of view about ISIS. We usually focus our attention on "our" way to intend ISIS phenomenon and we don't pay attention to what may arabs think about islamic terrorism. This series offers a different point of view, helping us to understand how arabs feel in relation to islamists. I found very interesting the parallel between the point of view of the moderate islamic narrator and ISIS extreme interpretation of the Quran. It shows how also arabians don't agree with such extremist points of view, how they horrorified in front of summary capital executions, tortures and violence in general. Often medias offer us a distorted vision about arabs and thei faith, as if they are all terrorists. It doesn't correspond to reality at all. Too many times we don't (or we don't want...) distinguish between moderate muslims and islamists. This is a great mistakes, and this series helps us to have an idea about the sufference of muslim people forced to live under the threatening of ISIS. That's why it doesn't matter if the plot doesn't follows western standards, the actors are not the best performers on the field, the soundtrack was not written by Danny Elfman, and so on. What really matter is the message production tries to give us. We also have to consider this production is not intended for western people! The main aim of the producers was to show ISIS violence to arabians, and this makes a big difference!

High quality production with real great artists. Watched it on Netflix in a row, in a real marathon. Go ahead and prepare your stomach. The truth is not beautiful at all, but we all need to know it. It is real. Amazing in all the points. Recommended with applause!

I read that many viewers complained about the acting. Hey, this is about ISIS! This is 1000 times more realistic than any hollywood movie cuz it's TRUE.

Isis is a secret world where you cannot escape from, once you've joined.. a life which is not imaginary. It's real, it's bloody true, it's cruel.. I recommend you to watch this for unknown reality of a terrorist group, how things work in isis, and not for the acting.

I've watched some other isis based movies and series but they were so unreal and superficial so i could not like them. The good acting didn't mean anything to me because of the superficiality.

But this one is a real masterpiece.

The bad acting bothered me barely.

If you wanna watch this, just know it's about the main subject: ISIS.

Brilliant acting and a very true representation of how life would be under Isis. It's a show that will shake you from within

Black Crows is essentially an anti-Daesh propaganda miniseries produced for a regional audience. It's not the standard "Arab terrorists hate liberalism; White hero saves the day" format that Hollywood loves so much.

Much of the acting and writing is terrible. But I'm still intrigued by the material, enough so to give it an 8/10-quantifying its entertainment value, rather than its production value. It's a shame more effort wasn't put into this.