'Below the Surface' is a Danish drama based on the premise that a group of terrorists sieze a group of hostages on the underground. That premise is interesting (and sadly all too plausible), but its development is not. We're introduced to the (basically irrelevent) backstory of each of the hostages; there's a depressingly unimaginative portrayal of a rogue journalist; while the hero is the master negotiator who (rather ridiculously) turns out to be the terrorists' primary target. His main action as negotiator is to persuade the hostages not to try and free themselves, supposedly in their own interests, but there's something absurd that when the hostages finally break free, the man charged with negotiating their freedom pleads with them to return to their cage! Overall, there's not much to see here, aside from some by-the-numbers drama; and there are certainly better examples of Scandi-noir.
Review of Gidseltagningen
