Het tweede gelaat

Otherwise... you can appreciate the drone's view from the Bruxelle's cathedral

I watched this movie without subtitles in its original language given as Dutch. Being able to speak Dutch I had great difficulty in understanding what was actually being said, only to discover it was a mixture of Dutch and a Flemish dialect which I couldn't understand.

This spoilt the movie to a great extent but I pressed on watching. It is a slow paced thriller, with lots of dialogue. It has a number of twists but the movie is much too long. In the end it reached a conclusion with a bit of action which probably saved the movie from failure.

Make sure that you watch it with subtitles, which is bothersome to read but would make the film more understandable. I was robbed of this but would not want to see it again with subtitles. It is no more than an average movie at best.

Some things are easy to see through and I would say, if you've seen a couple of thrillers, you won't have any issues seeing where this is heading. Still the characters are interesting and you can mostly understand their motivation and also can relate in general.

That is until the very end, where it all blows up. Well at least a little bit. Depending on your views of how it ties things together at the end and especially how it resolves them, you may have a problem with the movie. If not, you will be enjoying a crime drama, that is predictable but still has class and good actors in it.

The acting and the pacing help this movie rise above the underlying script, a hackneyed, contrived story of the search for a serial killer. It has all the usual elements? Do we have a methodical, team oriented policeman in conflict with an intuitive cop with no impulse control? Yes. Do we have a list of stereotyped suspects that fit the bill perfectly? Yes, including (!!!) a psychiatric patient with a pet claw hammer.

"Control" is a much better title than "Het Tweede Gelaat," which translates as "Double Face." The film is a police procedural / psychological thriller / bromance. Commanding officer Vincke is a bit of a control freak, while Chief Inspector Verstuyft goes by his instincts. Rina keeps her patients under control with psychoactive drugs, but is out of control personally. Various VIPs attempt to control the investigation. The investigating judge is frustrated in her attempts to control Verstuyft, as is Vincke.

It's a well-made film with a Byzantine plot, plenty of red herrings, credible performances, three-dimensional characters, solid production values, a good chase scene, an effective climax and poetic justice for the villain.