Jack Irish

I'm sure many agree that the writing, acting, direction and overall storyline are simply excellent. What really appealed to me, however, were the side stories. In most shows they are annoying and irrelevant, but the story lines related to race horses, the old footballers in the pub, the carpenter, and others make this a truly complete and enjoyable "universe."

I loved the first three "Jack Irish" movies, they just went from strength to strength.

They formed a body of work that can stand comparison with the best in the crime/mystery genre such as "Morse", "Lewis", "Wallander", "Jesse Stone", and "Vera."

All share key ingredients that are even more important than a cutting-edge plot, the critical one being that the lead character must have feeling. It doesn't matter how tough or worldly-wise they are, these people know your pain. All the best ones understand human failings even if they don't always forgive them. Wit serves their characters well - not so much cynicism, but a knowing, world-weary wit.

The first three "Jack Irish" movies had those qualities in spades, plus unique, beautifully realised characters right down the cast list.

But I'm not so sure about the latest 6-part series. I think the extended format works against the tighter format of the movie length episodes. Where the filmmakers edited to fit 90-minutes, they now extend to fill 4-hours plus.

There are still clever touches and some very funny lines, and you can't fault the performances, but there are definitely some well-worn themes: a trail that leads to crooked politicians; ruthless multinationals; terrorists, and that old favourite of just about every series, the cult church with dark motives. Despite sub-plots going off in all directions, the principle that 'no one is introduced for nothing' is applied with a vengeance - no one is random, everything is connected.

Familiar elements added spice to the first three movies, but here things are perilously close to being over-spiced. Jack's buddies get a major workout with a lot more business to get through.

A factor is possibly the creation of more content for a voracious medium, but I can't help feeling that the six episodes would have made two more succinct movies along the lines of "Bad Debts", "Black Tide" and "Dead Point".

It will be interesting to see where "Jack Irish" goes from here.

This show is like a diamond in the rough! Mystery combined with danger and violence done very well. Guy Pearce is good, playing second fiddle to the locations of iconic Fitzroy, Melbourne.

For an Australian crime show, this is by far the one of the best. I like Guy Pearce and the supporting cast. I started watching Jack Irish the movies versions last year. I was pleasantly surprised that they made it into a TV series. It is a great watch, because it is so not like any other show on television. I'm hoping for more, a second season and continue on from there. This is one television show that should be aired in the United States. It deserves a larger audience.

I am really in a kind of quite love affair with the Blackhawk that Pearce drives in the series. I just wonder how many are still running around the down-under continent? Australia has a knack for holding on to a lot of nostalgic artifacts of American origin or design. Even with the right hand drive.

Cheers Mates.

I like a lot of the Oz tv and film I see. The Jack Irish films were fun, in large part, because of the supporting ensemble, many familiar to me from other productions. S 2 puts the film gang back together and is much better for it. S1 I rated 5, S2 rate 8 so 7 overall.