Review: ‘Black Doves’ is a holiday thriller of the heart
Here comes “Black Doves,” premiering Thursday on Netflix. How is this thriller different from other thrillers? It does what most do, in terms of action and suspense and complicated plotting, and does them very well, but what’s more interesting is that it’s also what might be called a “thriller of the heart.” To begin with, it’s the one with Ben Whishaw — he’s played Hamlet and Richard II (and also Marilyn Monroe) — and Keira Knightley, whom you’ve loved since “Bend It Like Beckham,” and Sarah Lancashire (“Julia,” “Happy Valley”), who, like Knightley, is an OBE, or officer of the Order of the British Empire. I’m sure Whishaw will get to be one eventually if he wants it. And it’s a Christmas story, not a “Die Hard”-type “at Christmas” story, but a legitimate, if twisted Yuletide tale, with arcs, in their unusual way, fitting for the season. Sentimental without irony, it manages to balance relatable relationships with hot- and cold-blooded murder. (It’s something of a feat.) There are Christmas trees, too, and Christmas presents, and Christmas music, and children in a nativity play, and a