Les Enquêtes du département V: L'effet papillon

I made the mistake to rewatch the older ones in this series leading up to the premiere of the newest installment, only to confirm how much better the old ones are, and how boring and disappointing this new one is.

They should have made it with the old cast that we have come to love and associate with this series, or have not made it at all........well, at least make it as an individual movie with no relations to the others.

I remember when my friend asked me 2/3 into this movie "what is it about, is there a story/plot here?", and I couldn't agree more.

Long and slow paced "story" with plot holes and then a rapid ending out of nowhere with the audience left with plenty to desire.

I'm really good at lowering my expectations, but this one didn't deliver at all.

I think it was a very bad idea to give the script to two writers who have only written comedies and dramas. It lacks the mystical tension that the previous four films had. It also didn't help the film that the director was also making his first thriller. He also brought in the drama clichés from his previous films.

Unfortunately, it is the writers' fault for neglecting the previously strong supporting characters and giving them very weak roles, leaving the characters of Assad and Rose completely out of focus. Moreover, the new actors tried to mould the characters on their own and did not really take anything from the last four films. It's as if each character is a different person, but they all go by the same name.

The focus of the investigation is also different and the final solution, like in a Holliwoody film, suddenly falls into your lap.

Unfortunately, this time it is a shambles.

Saw the first films with Nikolaj-Lie Kaas as inspector Mørck and Fares Fares as Assad.

It could work with Mørck (Played by Ulrich Thomsen) being rude, having no empathy and hellbound on solving the case no matter whos toes he treads upon. But when the rest of the crew around him acts more or less in the same fashion it simply gets boring and uninteresting. Where Assad were much more involved, and a individual character in the first films, he is reduced to a weak voice in the background and a boring sidekick.

Rosa is also tuned dowfrom a strong and independent woman in the first films, to an uninteresting and forgettable supporting role.

The plot is obvius and you have to struggle not to doze off while you see it.

If you have not seen the first films, go check them out and give this one a wide berth.

It is sad to see how such amazing movies could be distroyed and lost forever. I'm so sad.

I miss the other actors even though I like Ulrich Tomsen, but the other Morck was better in the role. Zaki Youssef doesn't slightly compare to Fares Fares in the role of Hafez, my favourite charachter of the books and the movies.

If I had not read the book, I would not have understood anything, and again, they managed to lose me somewhere with an obscure and unspoken plot.

This movie is very low quality compared to the previous ones.