Hold Tight (2022) User Reviews

Not My Fav

[kkmgirl-448-111988 · 5/10 · 29 April 2022]

I've come to enjoy some of Coben's series, so was looking forward to this. I was left underwhelmed. I enjoy the Polish setting and some of the soundtrack, but in general, I couldn't follow the myriad storylines. I literally kept falling asleep and having to restart episodes (although in fairness I was uber exhausted this week), because it jumped around so much and it was hard to invest/care about the characters. Mom is demonized for spying on son, but if she just ignored her fears and something terrible happened, she'd be blamed for that, too- it's a no win. At least she cared more than some of the other parents (one who covers up his kid's drug problem, etc). I still have no real clue why we spent so much time on a thug who abuses/murders women and his annoying lollipop-sucking groupie. It all felt disjointed with a cliche sappy happy ending (kind of...?). A nice production value can't save a wonky script or annoying characters, so sadly this was kind of a miss compared to other series. PS, I couldn't be bothered to rewind so I must have missed it, but what was the deal with the teacher, the kid, and the stupid beard-bullying??

Not that thrilling

[Calicodreamin · 5/10 · 29 April 2022]

A thriller that lacks the wild twists and turns, for the most part its predictable and anticlimactic. The middle four episodes are filler and delay tactics. Acting is decent.

Simply boring

[aptos-63057 · 5/10 · 24 April 2022]

I was excited about this one as I watched other Coben adaptation, unfortunately this one is simply boring and hard to stay awoken while watching. You can try if can't find anything else.

How to raise a sociopath

[dannlaly · 6/10 · 27 April 2022]

The story itselself is not bad, nor is the acting. I loved that it was a Polish production. What got to me was the was parents would act towords their children. So a 18 year old dies, another one goes missing and none of the parents cares enough to make their sons and daughters do/say something about it? It was pretty clear that the teenagers knew what was going on , but the parents just respected their privacy and space and decide to do nothing, unitl their own children were in danger too. And what's with the two idiots who had it all and only cared about drugs?

Terrible parenting ruined the series for me.

If that is how parents are raising children these days, I feel sorry for the future generations.

An average show

[jdavis895 · 6/10 · 23 April 2022]

The plot is intriguing but there is a lot of incompetence in this show which makes it a bit frustrating. Plot holes and unrelated story lines as well. I wish I could rate it higher.

Not sure why people are saying.....

[ErinJeter · 6/10 · 26 April 2022]

Not sure why so many people are saying there's no subtitles when the text messages are shown. I could clearly understand the text messages because I had subtitles on my screen. Maybe all the people saying they couldn't understand because they had no subtitles when the texts were shown should turn on the subtitles on their TV. Stop giving the show bad ratings just because you have no clue how to work your own TV.

Another "Ignore the low scores" Review

[jeff-2051 · 7/10 · 26 April 2022]

The number of low scores tells me that either 1) the reviewers are unable to follow films with subtitles, or 2) they watched the dubbed version. Both speak to the value of those same reviewers' opinions. This is not perfect, but it IS very well written, filmed, directed, and acted. It's also, virtually, the perfect length at six episodes. Watch it!

Average

[nappeliko · 5/10 · 23 April 2022]

I mean it is watchable. Just don't expect anything new. Also don't rly understand why that one man was chosen to act as a teenager, he looks rly out of place with beard and everything. He looked more like 30 year old than a 16yr old.

The dreariest, most unpleasant and least photogenic of the recent Harlan Coben TV adaptations

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 16 June 2022]

"Hold Tight" starts promisingly, but soon slows to a crawl and the story doesn't seem to advance for at least 2-3 episodes (out of only 6). It also has an unwelcome emphasis on women getting kidnapped, beaten, murdered, and in general victimized. There are a couple of interesting twists near the very end, but it may be another case of "too little, too late". Well-acted by all, but a disappointment in comparison to other recent Harlan Coben series, including the also Polish "The Woods" (with which it shares two characters). 6/10 on the whole.

SULKY KIDS

[linda-plant2 · 4/10 · 29 April 2022]

Yet another modern day drama where insolent teenagers have the upper hand. What ever happened to parenting and discipline ? The parents of Kaja were just wet lettuces, she was never reprimanded or questioned once about her behaviour, they just sat looking at her as she flounced upstairs ! As for Adam's parents - they were the ones who needed therapy, from HIM ! What a pain.

The story was too long, too drawn out, and with lots of fast forwarding I cut down the episodes from 49 minutes to around 30, so got through it much quicker. Thankfully.

As for the translation issues. I NEVER do dubbing, with subtitles at least you hear the actors voices instead of some American doing the overvoicing while sat in a studio watching the film.

Hold Tight

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 15 October 2022]

This six part Polish series, based on the book by Harlan Coben, is set some months after a young man died of an apparent drug overdose. His mother blames his friend Adam. Adam's parent suspect something is wrong with him and his friends are pressuring him not to talk about something... then he disappears. Meanwhile a pair of kidnappers, a man and a woman, are snatching women off the streets.

I thought this was a solid thriller series. As one would expect in a story by Harlan Coben there are some nice twists before we learn just what has happened. There is plenty of tension, especially in scenes involving the kidnappers; the man is particularly unpleasant. The setting is impressive with the parents' homes in a modern, wealthy neighbourhood contrasting with the rundown areas where their children go to hang out. The acting is pretty solid throughout. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of previous adaptations of Haran Coben's books.

These comments are based on watching the series in Polish with English subtitles.

Great plot but lacks heart or depth of emotion

[phantasmagoric-00418 · 7/10 · 24 April 2022]

I didn't love Hold Tight as much as I expected to; I didn't enjoy the changes that were made. Ordinarily I can separate the adaptation from the book and view them as separate entities but I feel as though reading the book is the only reason I understand the motivation of some of the characters, and that they weren't written as well in the adaptation. I felt as though the heart of the novel was the father/son relationship and the parent/child relationships across all the characters which I feel has been marred in the adaptation by having so strong a focus on the younger characters and introducing some that are superfluous. I understand why some characters had to change, as the adaptations can't have Hester or Loren, and Pawel is a good way to amalgamate the roles of Hester and Mo. I didn't like the changes made to Ania's character to compensate for the loss of Susan though, I feel like Mike was so central to the book - his heart, his character, his impact on others - and I missed that in the series.

The real gift of Harlan Coben's writing is his unique ability to take readers on an emotional journey - to create hope and fear, to put us in the shoes of his characters and invest in their wellbeing - it's not all about the mystery, it's about the connection. I did not feel that connection with the characters in this series - not between each other and not between them and the viewer. This is a real shame as other adaptations have successfully created that bond and drawn us in completely - something about this one just seems clumsy and as though the writers and actors themselves didn't connect with the source material.

Either the book or the Polish way of making a series, totally sucks!

[qui_j · 2/10 · 25 April 2022]

This is the usual bit of rubbish about "Affluenza" kids, and drugs. The way the story is told makes no sense at all. The first episode, which should provide the background and context for the characters and plot, is non-existent. It consists of a series of random events loosely strung together by choppy editing. One has no idea of who the characters are, or how they are related to one another. As the series progresses, there are many red herrings dragged across the trail to the point where one is watching about 10 different stories, none of which seem to be related. The ending episode is equally stupid. If you watch the whole series, you will be sorely disappointed as it is very unsatisfying as it is unfulfilling. Give it a pass! It's really a very poor production! No wonder Netflix loses subscribers.

GOOD WEB SERIES

[sunildaswaney-63642 · 7/10 · 28 April 2022]

The English translation of the title of this Polish web series is HOLD TIGHT.

It's a good suspense filled family drama which matching performances,direction and editing.

7/10.

Enjoyed it and recommend it but it fell a little short

[triplelauren · 7/10 · 20 May 2022]

The plot was interesting enough to keep my interest and it was a good ride, but not enough development of the secondary characters to care that much. I enjoyed the acting and the suspense. The ending was interesting but it did sort of wrap up quickly at the end without as much suspense that was built up o that point. There was a good payoff of some of the plot elements and others simply wrapped up, but a few surprises at the end made it still worthwhile.

Old vs. young

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 12 September 2022]

There seems to be quite a lot here. Having parents and kids clashing - and of course having disputes amongst each other. It seems at least in the beginning to give us something that might be really interesting. And I would argue that it holds up that promise - at least mostly.

The acting is good, the story flows along nicely. I had some issues with the many different storylines at first, but you'll be able to understand and get the jist of most of it. And get the connections the characters have with each other - who lives with who, who speaks to who and why secrets are being kept.

Secrets - always something that will drag one down - no pun intended. But there is much more here. Interesting and tension filled, it still might not be everyones cup of tea (or whatever the equivalent would be in Poland)

[6.2] Average try

[cjonesas · 6/10 · 19 April 2024]

A mild limited and original show where everything is mildly engaging and interesting, though, the crime, mystery and thriller factors are not so on par with the soul of the storyline. One of the few productions where the acting and some situations as well as the developments in their lives are more natural and interesting than what happened to Igor and Adam.

A show that is more dramatic than thrilling.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 6
• Production value/impact: 6.5
• Development: 7
• Realism: 6.5
• Entertainment: 6
• Acting: 7
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 7.5
• VFX: 6.5
• Music/score/sound: 6.5
• Depth: 6
• Logic: 3.5
• Flow: 6.5
• crime/drama/mystery/thriller: 6.5
• Ending: 5.5.

Only six episodes

[zamboni-36633 · 4/10 · 24 April 2022]

This definitely doesn't compare to the other adaptations of the author's work. The police had better things to do then try to find this missing teen. They kept stumbling over bodies and clues as to what was happening in the many subplots this series had. Then, the girlfriend tells the parents that the texts she's getting don't seem to be written by their missing son and he's supposedly sending old pictures to her. No problem, they say. He'll show up. He just wants some time alone. Really?! You were panicking before and now some odd texts and old pictures put your mind at ease? I don't think so! The villains were incompetent. Get that stupid tootsie roll out of your mouth! And the porn video thrown in was just bizarre. The whole thing was about five hours long, so it didn't waste much of my time like a longer series would. If you've watched the others, give this one a shot, but I was disappointed.

Boring. Not up to the Harlon Coben standards

[shashikasvka · 1/10 · 28 April 2022]

Below average for someone like Harlon Coben. The stranger, safe, innocent, these are pretty good series. Apart from that, all the other series are average. This one is the worst. Hands down. Don't know what went wrong. Either the book or the production of the tv show.

Great series!

[ricoswivee · 10/10 · 23 April 2022]

I didn't know what to expect, and I had to get through the first episode before it got really good, but it's a very interesting series! Also, Polish people have the prettiest eyes.

Shocking!

[corndollyjhs · 1/10 · 29 April 2022]

This is just awful. A perfect storm of poor acting, casting, scriptwriting and direction.

The original novel was set in and around the Bronx and was just about ok.

In an attempt to crank up the mystery this pitiful Polish adaptation decides to give the viewer zero clue as to what I going on.

Random characters are kidnapped, tortured, murdered and scattered on wasteland. Parents of missing children run around aimlessly whilst a laughable police force appear unconcerned!

Gratuitous violence, sex and substance abuse bulk out the gruelling six episodes.

Meh. It's watchable

[MisterButts · 4/10 · 23 April 2022]

It was ok. At times it felt disjointed with too many unrelated subplots happening at the same time. The incompetence of the bad guys requires too much suspension of disbelief. I mean really, any competent kidnapper would search the victim and most certainly wouldn't leave her purse near her, a purse that contains a pair of scissors for crying out loud. A pair of scissors that allows her to cut free, stab the kidnapper and escape. Also, any competent kidnapper would use zip ties or handcuffs.

And any competent kidnapper would've searched the purse and come across said scissors.

Dreadful from the start.

[kjjames81 · 3/10 · 7 May 2022]

I watched this hoping it would be a gripping thriller as many of Harlen Corben's have been on Netflix.

Boy what a wrong thought by me. Yes some of the performances were good but overall the series itself was a huge letdown.

It was one huge mess, such as the sub story which was done in a dreadful way. In one scene when they snatched a girl, she screams and no one hears her, yeah right.

The martial arts scenes were laughable, just because it's quite popular you don't need to add them into a series like this.

There were other scenes which made the Series bad.

Overall very disappointed with it, so yourself a favour and give this a miss.

Surprisingly good!

[wujbatman · 8/10 · 2 May 2022]

As in Coben's manner starts with seemingly unrelated lines which finally all come together. Well written and convincingly well played - especially by Magdalena Boczarska, which was not a surprise for me (check her other films). My recommendation.

Another Polish series showing how Polish police work and society standards are so different

[AI010101 · 3/10 · 1 December 2022]

Throughout the series (and many previous Polish series I watched) I was irritated by ways of how local police works. If they were trying to show super lazy, half witted, bad mouthing policemen and low police work standards they couldn't have a better job. Some patterns are easily recognizable from a previous life experience. Society standards are low too. When teenager's life is in danger - and all of us adults know how stupid and impulsive they can act - you don't hesitate to use any modern technology to find them. Instead they playing trust games (police out of laziness, so they don't need to do anything and parents because they were shamed for making efforts to find their son). No technology used by police and none seem to be available. So the whole intrigue is lost at me because of this irritation. They seem to think it's normal and there no signs of remorse like in some series.