Varg Veum - Skriften på veggen

I must admit I'm quite impressed about the cinema being almost full on the third day of showing this Varg Veum-film. It's the third I've seen on cinema, but I know there's been quite a few also on DVD, without me watching them.

But I think the script for this movie was too far fetched. Maybe it worked better in the Gunnar Staalesen-book. Quite probably. Actually i find it surprising to say that Lene Nystrøm made the best out of her role, as dis of course Bjørn Floberg as policeman Hamre.

Tragic, too tragic, the story goes on just as the ones I seen before. I can't help it being bored. Too theatrical, and I don't think the pedophilia in this film gives the story enough of a serious treatment. we simply don't believe in it This will be the last Varg Veum film I see, at least in the cinema.

Varg quit job as a detective and now works in school. The same school, which "by accident" Torill attends to. Torill is a sister of Eva Beate (Martine Johansen is playing as both sisters), a girl that died few years ago, when Varg was still working in social services. The beginning of Varg's new job coincides with releasing Ulrik "Knife" Sand (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) from prison. Sand claims that he was in jail as an innocent man and he blames Varg for his misery. Knife seeks for revenge on the ex detective and in order to do that he uses Torill and the case of deceased Eva Beate.

So. Varg has got a haircut, has a partner, and, oh dear, changed his SUV for a bicycle, what made him steal a car, when he had to chase a villain. Hamre seems to be used to Varg now, he got rid of his annoying assistant. This piece gives some inside into Varg's past. Now, when he is with Karin (Lene Nystrøm) he wants to settle down, but he cannot help with the need to save people. And this of course puts him and Karin in danger.

The newer season is even more tedious than the first season. Varg now looks a little cleaner and not as scruffy and unwashed as in the first season. This episode is so poorly edited that it is impossible to understand how or why things happen. There is little continuity between the scenes, with some scene just randomly inserted for 1-2 seconds. At the end of the movie, the viewer is left totally confused as to how the crime was solved. These movies are really a very poor representation of Scandinavian Noir, a genre in which the Swedes and Danes are much further ahead than the Norwegians.

Two of us were watching and both agreed it was a poor episode. While never a wordy show (or really well acted show), I think there were about 250 words spoken in total. Lots of non-verbal scenes/action. Varg has never been the greatest PI on this series and has frequently done stupid things and got his *ss kicked, but in this one he's a moron in the past and at the time most of the action takes place.

Hard to believe this was based on a book. It must have been 10 pages long if this was all there was to put into a movie.