Den röda vargen

The Red Wolf (2012) aka Den röda vargen

Plot: A journalist is murdered in the frozen white landscape of a northern Swedish town. Annika Bengtzon, a reporter at a Stockholm-based tabloid, was planning to interview him about a long-ago attack against an isolated air base nearby, and now she suspects that his death is linked to that attack. Against the explicit orders of her boss, she begins to investigate the event, which is soon followed by a series of shocking murders. Annika knows the murders are connected. At the same time, she begins to suspect that her husband is hiding something, and nothing can counteract the loneliness that has crept into her life. Behind everything lurks the figure of the Red Wolf, a cold-blooded killer with the soul of a lover. In the end, she must discover the truth not only about the murders but also about the lies that are destroying her own family.

Malin Crepin stars as crime reporter Annika Bengtzon. Annika has a partner and two children, but her job as a crime reporter often and summarily sends her on cases away from her family and into a degree of danger. Her sudden absences put pressures on her family life.

The stories are quite good,the acting is very competent and the production values high. It's what you expect from Scandanavian productions and this series of six movies doesn't let you down.

Not at the same level as The Bridge and The Killing, but enjoyable nevertheless. Worth watching in the knowledge that what you see won't send you into convulsions of pain and horror, nor will it make you reassess your life. But most of us just want to be entertained and for me Annika Bengtzon does that.

The film in question follows the footsteps of several famous Scandinavian crime dramas with "feminine approach", i.e. the leading character is a strong woman who does well in masculine environment or even outperforms her associates. Usually they are based on book by female authors, and topics deal with "softer" values rather than harsh and nasty felonies. Similar to e.g. Dicte, Annika Bengtzon is a journalist, but both the character itself and performance are somewhat weaker than Iben Hjejle's Dicte; moreover, there are some sidelines not providing additional value to the course of events (Annika's family problems), and the ones depicting evil are quite inexpressive. On the other hand, the plot itself is intriguing and as I did not figure out the real killer, I can give 7 overall points. And as it was my first familiarisation with Liza Marklund / Annika Bengtzon, I would not like to express blunt criticism, perhaps they did not just "open" fully to me at first sight.

this whole series is actually a mediocre one if compares to other mysteries out of Scandinavian TV industries. screenplays were so badly crafted and then further deteriorated by poor directing and editing. the only thing that this series still worth viewing was the main female crime reporter herself, played by Malin Crépin, a female actor who performed naturally, a quite likable persona that viewers would like to watch just because of her. the settings related to her work, those supporting roles in the newspapers were not quite good, the whole series relied heavily on flash back, all crimes had to be rewound back and back again, one by one. it's like Korean TV drama series, characters have to talk to themselves by murmuring all the time to help explaining something that poor screenplays and directors usually could not do. this series also got limited actors to play the roles, we often saw an actor in one episode appeared in the next one with different role, but the face was just too familiar to be smoothly transformed into another one. the whole series only got one above average episode, the one about the Nobel prize murder case. others episodes, like this one and "prime time" were simply too flat, dumb and awkward to be watched, you need two factors that might enable you to complete the whole series: time and patience, i.e., if you got some leisure time to waste and if you got enough patience. otherwise, it's a pain in the neck to watch along.

i was also disgusted by the poor screenplay of this episode that showed the heroine's true color: a news hound without emotion and empathy. she told the tabloid to expose the teenager who was later killed by the serial killer. when she heard that young man was killed because of her, she seemed to give no darn at all; when she saw her longtime boyfriend/husband had an affair, her reaction also not quite like a normal female. the poor screenplay just made her with a robotic personality, a woman only got certain degrees of emotions to her two kids, but remote and almost without any feeling to others.

It's really an excellent series with great flow and pacing. Tense and gritty. Only Malin Crépin is simply too distracting. It's enough having to read the subtitles, without being distracted by this ridiculously beautiful woman. I think casting should consider that males although evolved with some ability to control themselves, might be viewers and maybe unable to control biology. She is an excellent actress but detracts from the sheer quality of the show, with her looks. The story lines are superb and the scenery is brilliant. It has great atmosphere as well. I like the fact that even such a stunning woman, can have marital problems. Her problems balancing work and children resonates as well.