The year 2020 was pretty dark for most movies. The postponements and failures were piling up, something that undoubtedly helped ‘Up to the sky’ was one of the most successful Spanish productions of the year. Shortly after its release in theaters, the start-up of a television sequel was announced, which finally reached Netflix this past Friday March 17th.
‘Hasta el cielo: La serie’ is a direct sequel to the film starring Miguel Herran (‘The paper house’) and Carolina Yuste (‘Without tracks’), with the particularity that, for obvious reasons, none of them reappears here. In return, he maintains the same artistic –Daniel Calparsoro in the direction and Jorge Guerricaechevarria in the script- and several members of the cast of the film to give shape to a continuing series that is not far from the level of its predecessor.
a direct sequel
I have to confess that I didn’t particularly enjoy ‘Hasta el cielo’, since it was still a throwaway pastime that at least served to make it clear that commercial films could be made with solvency in Spain. Calparsoro already tried to repeat the move with the inferior ‘Centauro’ and now with this series for Netflix he follows the same path, with the particularity that it is more difficult to maintain a climate of constant tension throughout of 7 episodes than in a movie.
It is not that Calparsoro is exactly new to the small screen, since at the time he signed miniseries such as ‘The punishment’ or ‘The wrath’ and lately he had worked on titles such as ‘Todo por el juego’ and ‘Operación Marea Negra’. With all the ones I saw at the time, I had a feeling similar to the one that ‘Hasta el cielo: La serie’ has left me: titles with little shine but resolved with trade, oscillating between high suspense and approval depending on the specific case.
The balance turns a little more to the negative side in the case of ‘Hasta el cielo: La serie’, where thriller and sex are mixed again as the main claims. In its favor, it has a little more space to develop the personal plots and how the different stories of its protagonists are connected, but that advantage practically disappears if you barely do anything interesting with it later.
Virtues and limitations of ‘Hasta el cielo: The series’
One thing that is noticeable from the first moment in the series is that it aspires to be as accessible as possible, which is why its dialogues are stiff in many situations, especially when they are recited by some of the younger members of the cast in the cut scenes. innermost. That is something that I already perceived in the film at the time, but here it gains more strength as it is extended to more characters and because Herrán and Yuste are better interpreters than Alvaro Rico (‘Elite’) and Asia Ortega (‘The Boarding School: The Summits’). And that none of the first two offered exactly his best work in ‘Hasta el cielo’.
In fact, it is once again the adult cast who brings more consistency to the series, especially the infallible Luis Tosar. It’s a pity that their presence is quite small, but the level grows exponentially with each one of their appearances, since a greater experience is noted to defend a material in which commerciality prevails above all else.
It is precisely there where ‘Hasta el cielo: La serie’ best bears the comparison with the film, since we are facing a pastime more oriented to connect with the youthful public than anything else, which leads Calparsoro to bet on a lighter tone when trying to give the story a more lively rhythm. This point is easier to achieve with a feature film, but in the case at hand it does manage to hit the right key so that it enters very well and one chapter after another without hardly noticing.
On the other hand, the fact that there are only 7 episodes also plays in its favor, since if I do the series well, it is that history goes forward at all timeswithout taking timeouts that would only serve to expose their weaknesses more, since it is precisely in the most intimate moments where that vocation of the series to which I alluded before is clearer and also that perhaps its top managers are not very loose either. when approaching the younger characters.
Is it worth watching or not?
It is clear that ‘Hasta el cielo: La serie’ is designed for those who enjoyed the previous film, opting for an approach that enhances the same style as that one but with the peculiarities of having to divide it into several episodes. In that case, I do see it slightly below but I also see no reason for him to disappoint his fansbut the rest of the public will find little incentive here.
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