Culture Cinema & Tv Show reviews

The Rising

The Rising | Show review

Waking in the middle of a lake, disorientated and with the suspicion that something is watching her from the trees, 19-year-old Neve (I Am Mother’s Clara Rugaard) returns home to discover that her desperately worried family cannot see her. With no memory of what happened at the party the night before, as well as finding vicious injuries on her neck and body, the horrible truth that she’s been murdered soon dawns on the teenager. And from herein, The Rising, Sky’s supernatural detective thriller, sees Neve embark on the hunt for her own killer.

As far as murder mysteries go, this series presents viewers with a compelling case to crack. Everyone is a suspect, and everybody seemingly has something to hide. Neve is as lost for answers as viewers here, which allows audiences to go through the same journey of discovery as the lead on equal footing. Likewise, Rugaard’s strong performance drives each scene forward as she draws ever closer to the truth. Noteworthy performances from Solly MacLeod as the suspicious boyfriend and Nenda Neururer as Neve’s new but troubled friend Alex round out the cast. However, it’s a dazzling outing from Emily Taafe as the teenager’s grief-stricken mother which frequently steals the spotlight.

The plot grows thicker within the first few episodes. In terms of genre, though, this is very much a typical teenage affair in which the drama revolves around who’s been sleeping with who to the backdrop of upbeat pop music. Thankfully, there are enough nuggets in the script that touch upon bigger themes of agency and grief that can see viewers through the hormonal teens. Similarly, hints of a bigger supernatural mystery will compel viewers to watch further. Hopefully, the latter revelations will be able to shed some more light and logic upon the rules of Neve’s abilities. How she can ride a dirt bike around town without anybody noticing the riderless vehicle is perhaps a bigger mystery at this early stage.

After watching the first few episodes of The Rising, it’s evident that there’s a lot more to come from this supernatural thriller. The mystery of what happened that fateful night, alongside the ghostly happenings, is still shrouded in secrecy. There’s enough of a hook to snare viewers, though the teen drama may prove to be too much for some.

Andrew Murray

The Rising is released on Sky Max and NOW on 22nd April 2022.

Watch the trailer for The Rising here:

More in Shows

“Letting us pass this torch on to the kids just makes me reflect on how crazy this experience has been”: Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly, Freya Skye and Malachi Barton on Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires

Christina Yang

Miley Cyrus unveils visual album Something Beautiful, streaming on Disney+ this July

The editorial unit

Ryan Gosling goes interstellar in Project Hail Mary, the latest sci-fi epic from the team behind The Martian and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

The editorial unit

Trailer drops for Roofman, Derek Cianfrance’s stranger-than-fiction crime drama starring Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst

The editorial unit

Dave Franco and Alison Brie face a rural nightmare in Michael Shanks’s upcoming horror film

The editorial unit

Jurassic World: Rebirth

Guy Lambert

Mediterrane Film Festival 2025: The Theft of the Caravaggio

Mae Trumata

Olivia Rodrigo at BST Hyde Park

Katherine Parry

“Do you still have faith in humanity?”: Hwang Dong-hyuk, Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun and Park Gyu-young on Squid Game season three

Christina Yang