Hand of God - Amazon Original series starring Ron Perlman launches today | Movie Talk | What's on TV

(Image credit: Karen Ballard)

Following its London premiere earlier this week in the appropriately sacral setting of a Sir John Sloane church converted into a party venue, the new Amazon Original series Hand of God launches today.

A heady mix of intrigue, suspense, satire and family melodrama, the series stars Ron Perlman as an ethically dodgy judge who goes off the rails following a family tragedy, believing himself compelled by God to embark on a path of vigilante justice.

We first encounter Perlman’s Judge Pernell Harris stark naked in a public fountain and speaking in tongues, having undergone an abrupt religious conversion at the hands of dubiously slick preacher Paul Curtis (Julian Morris).

Hand of God Dana Delany Ron Perlman.jpg — (Image credit: Photo by Karen Ballard/Amazon)

For Pernell’s bemused wife Crystal (Dana Delany), the cause of his bizarre behaviour is clear - their son, PJ, lies in a coma after attempting suicide following the brutal rape of his wife, Jocelyn (Alona Tal). The distress of these events has triggered a mental breakdown.

But Pernell, guided by increasingly odd visions, is not to be deflected from his path and recruits born-again ex-con KD (Garret Dillahunt) to carry out his divinely inspired vengeance...

Created by writer Ben Watkins and executive produced by Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster, Hand of God looks set to take the viewer down some intriguingly bizarre paths, taking satirical swipes at religion, big business and the law along the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLuKzH-igLo

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.