Prime Suspect 4
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Movie Reviews of Prime Suspect 4
Movie Review: Prime Suspect series 4, 5 & 6
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought these for my daughter for Christmas. She is a big fan of English mysteries and she is thrilled with them.Movie Review: Two Extraordnarily Intense Stories and One that was Just Good
Summary: 4 Stars
I think that the Prime Suspect series of police procedurals are some of the best ones I've ever seen (the Inspector Lynley series is also great but those are a bit different than the PS ones). This particular season has three stories:
"The Lost Child": This is probably the most intense and disturbing. A child is apparently abducted and events conspire to finger a man who had a past record of sexually abusing a child...but did he kidnap this baby? (special warning: there is a scene in which this character is shown in a therapy session discussing his fixation on a young child that some people might find extremely tough to watch) The story ends with a real bang...an extraordinarily tense hostage situation.
"Inner Circles": The former manager of a posh country club is found brutally murdered. The upscale denizens of the club are eager to see the crime blamed on juvenile delinquents from a poor housing estate. Yet Tennison senses that the killers are from somewhere else. This episode features one of the most ice cold villains in the series (right up with George Marlow from the first --the pleasant sociopath).
"Scent of Darkness": This was the one that I didn't think was as strong as the first two (but certainly worthwhile entertainment). A series of killings hauntingly similar to the ones George Marlow committed in PSI are taking place. People are beginning to doubt that Marlow was the real killer. Can Tennison find the truth?
If you are looking for cozy British mysteries where murder comes across as a sort of game, Prime Suspect is not for you. But if you are looking for some very tense and realistic police dramas, this is well-worth watching.
Movie Review: Wrong George Marlowe but always right Jane Tennison
Summary: 4 Stars
Another reviewer at Amazon was exactly right in pinpointing the weakness of this entry in the series as being the decision to revisit the Marlowe character from Prime Suspect 1 but with a different actor playing him. The first Marlowe had such an interesting ambiguity, a likeability and seeming sympathy, that this one, albeit a good actor, unfortunately can not match. That said, however, that the actual crime being investigated is the least convincing part of Prime Suspect 4 doesn't lessen the episode's impact. Prime Suspect's "not as good" is still loads better than most other crime dramas, the reason being that Jane Tennison is such a compelling character and she is surrounded with equally complex supporting figures. Several of the key cast members in Prime Suspect 4 are detectives and superior officers that we've gotten to know in the preceding episodes. The fact that the case necessitates a re-opening of the Marlowe case, the case upon which Tennison's career as a D.C.I. was established, makes this an even more intimate look at her personality, how she works with her colleagues and how that, combined with departmental politics, impact on her approach and effectiveness in her work. Her private life takes on more significance here for her current lover, a psychologist, has participated in a book written on the case. The intelligence of the series, however, is that we are seeing more of her personal life not to make this into a chick flick melodrama but to examine more closely the workings of her professional world and her particular place in it both as a woman and as the very individual woman she is.And yes, Jane is still having some issues with smoking.
Movie Review: Falling Up
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm on my second go-round with this series, having enjoyed all the seasons several years ago. Watching them again is like revisiting old friends. Season 4 may offer arguably the best episode of the entire project ("The Lost Child"). The other two episodes, while not as compelling as the first, still showcase considerably more polished production values than previously. Both the show and its heroine look a little more expensive than in earlier days. I peg Season 4 as the turning point for Tennison, when her laser-focus on her career to the detriment of her personal relationships begins to really exert a toll. Newly promoted to Detective Superintendent, Jane has sacrificed everything to get this new post, including her lover and a chance at motherhood. She's drinking and smoking heavily again as she does daily battle with criminal scum and the male-dominated Met culture.
There is no criminal scum quite like George Marlowe, Jane's nemesis from Season 1. Every great detective mastermind needs a criminal counterpart, and Marlowe is Jane's Professor Moriarty. Jane put Marlowe away 5 years previously, but his influence resurfaces as London is confronted with a string of what look to be copycat murders of women. Jane's maverick ways over the handling of the reopened Marlowe investigation will once again get her in hot water with her bosses, putting her precious career in jeopardy. Mirren displays what a great actress she is because she manages to show Jane's vulnerability under the tough-as-nails facade and makes us care about her even as we flinch at some of her actions. Crime drama and character acting do not get any better than this.
Movie Review: superb work by Mirren, et al.
Summary: 4 Stars
The three stories in this installment of the Prime Suspect series are intense, absorbing, beautifully done. As mentioned in other reviews, the re-casting of the George Marlowe character in 'The Scent of Darkness' is strange, but not fatal to the telling of the tale.
Warning: there are no extras whatsoever in this DVD set (which is why I give it four instead of five stars) -- no commentary, no language/subtitles options, no additional features re: the making or the people involved in the making of, nothing. Just three excellent Jane Tennyson stories.