jakemccoy-289-559646

I have watched probably 50 of these various style of foreign noir series. Everything from The Bridge, Penoza, Trapped to Spiral (Engrenages}. Some are obviously much better than others; some are awful in spite of their inexplicable popularity. And some of the best ones fell though the cracks, like "Arne Dahl"; which I accidentally stumbled upon on an obscure review site.

They sure don't make 'em like they used to. I've had to lower my standards.

If you enjoy those types of shows than this series fits into the "worth a watch" bundle. Watchable, but it's not on the same par with Engrenages, that's for sure.

It looks and feels like a copycat of Spiral (Engrenages) to me. But, the special FX are almost distractedly bad for a modern show, sort of unintentionally funny. But the story line is good, and most of the cast plays their roles very well.

My only real problem with the show is the "soap opera" production style. it has a bit of the "General Hospital" kind of vibe. Dramatic pauses, over dressed, freshly painted stage-looking sets, overly choreographed and sorta overacted.

Some of the details are just plain stupid. For example: If a woman has been in a solitary confinement prison cell for 25 years, why is her hair and makeup absolutely perfect? She looks like an executive that just stepped out of a corporate boardroom. Her prison cell is nicer than some luxury hotels I've stayed in. That almost killed it for me in the first 15 minutes of episode #1.

In spite of all this, I have to admit that it kept me watching. I'm not finished with the whole series, but thought I'd chime in with an opinion.

Take every testosterone-driven action film from the past thirty years, boil down all of the cliche "hard-ass tough guy" one-liners...all of the computer typed overlays like "TOP SECRET NEPTUNE GLACIER MILITARY FACILITY: KYVEK, RUSSIA" .....mix in all the obligatory military helicopter scenes where they're zooming over the water...... Add a solid dramatic Vagner-esq snare drum & french horn soundtrack....army boots running on various surfaces such as airplane hangers and steel platforms.....cartoonish CGI....

To be perfectly honest, we sat down to watch what we already knew was going to be recycled material. But we were in the mood for an action film anyway. But- we all started goofing on it less that five minutes into it. You just can't help yourself, it's so stupidly predictable. Everything.

I think we lasted 35 minutes before we finally ran out of jokes. I cannot believe this has such a high rating on IMDB. It must be people who didn't already see 1,001 identical movies over the past few decades. After Das Boot was released there really was no more need for these types of films.

I gave it two stars because I didn't watch the whole thing. Otherwise I'd just give it one. I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt.

I relished every second of the framing, lighting, panning, artistic perspective.... This should be a required film for anyone who even hopes to shoot a film someday. Bravo!

Now the storyline? First let me say this: My wife was born, raised and lived in Mexico for 40 years. She also had loves films. She thought this was a stereotypical Latin American soap plot. The unavoidable tangled lives of those who have live-in domestic labor. It's only been done a million times already.

I on the other hand grew up in Philly, and know nothing about live-in domestic workers in third world countries. So, I thought it would be interesting to watch. It wasn't. It was thee thinnest plot possible.

It was an ego mastribation resume piece for a Cinematographer. Period. I couldn't have cared less about any of the characters. They were shallow roles played by B-grade performers.