‘This guy just shot John Lennon…’
The death of John Lennon was a fucking tragedy. That much is for certain. What does your average music fan know about Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman? He was a no-mark loser who wanted to make a name for himself. He had some kind of weird obsession with J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. He is currently serving a life sentence in New York. After three episodes of Apple TV’s John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial, I’m not sure if we learn anything new about Chapman here…
Despite referencing the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, Operation MK Ultra and extensive interviews with first responders, Murder Without a Trial still feels too long at three episodes. Chapman is just not a compelling figure, despite his bizarrely placid behaviour in the aftermath of Lennon’s shooting. An exploration of Chapman’s childhood offers little in terms of explanation and audio recordings of Chapman made whilst he was incarcerated in a mental health facility offer nothing but non-sequiturs and meaningless nonsense. More informative and poignant is the footage of mourning fans gathering in Central Park in the days following the tragedy. While Paul McCartney’s seemingly aloof but actually shell-shocked reaction is genuinely upsetting the moments in which Yoko leads the crowd in a ten-minute prayer offer a salient reminder of the simple power of The Beatles and their peace and love motto. It’s sad to think that Lennon was on the cusp of recording music again and while his best work was undoubtedly behind him, it would have been fascinating to see him grow into an elder statesman of rock music.
Murder Without a Trial is best when offering a procedural examination of the assassination incident itself and the immediate aftermath. This is a story that could easily be told in 45 minutes and despite the best efforts of Kiefer Sutherland on narrating duties, this most recent entry into the bulging canon of Beatles-related media has little of note to offer for all but the most casual fans.