Reviews

This was one of the best 1960's period police dramas I have seen. The acting was excellent and the story line was realistic given the times.

We learned more about Morse and his emotions particularly with respect to women in general and to his boss's daughter in particular. Only those who have seen the later Morse incarnation (the John Thaw version) would know how it was going to end. It somewhat explains his later emotional and troubled issues toward the women who come into his life.

The episode centering around a bank robbery and an old mentor from Morse's university days was well paced and full of twists and turns.

An entertaining time. I hope there will be a series 4. I think that the Morse evolution still has a long period to cover to catch up to the original series.

Given the fine cast that this show had, perhaps my expectations were a little high. I have seen each of the main actors in other police/crime dramas where they really stood out. For example;Sheridan Smith in Jonathan Creek, Douglas Henshall in Shetland and Phil Davis in Whitechapel and Silk. Sheridan Smith did a reasonable job as a WPC managing to stay remarkably composed through the trying circumstances of her husband dying and the revelations from his undercover work. Apart from her, the other talent was wasted. The premise of the plot was quite good, but the pace was slow and the resolution unsatisfying. Should this series go for an extended run I would like to see the major talent used in more fleshed out roles.

While I commend this show for superb production values and great acting, it is slow moving. And having watched all of the episodes so far I ask why we have to wade through 13 episodes until we get, I presume, the resolution to the real issue that is haunting this Town of Fortitude? It is far too long and tedious.

I understand the need for character development and back stories, but as a viewer I like to be entertained. Psychological thrillers can be entertaining but hard to endure if carried on for too long without a resolution Having said all of this, I believe I have figured out the real issue and, if I am right, it is one that could develop into rather interesting implications for the Town of Fortitude and the planet Earth as well. Now that would be entertaining.

Viewer acceptance will determine whether this series is going to become seasonal. If so,the producers should decide whether it's going to become an Arctic Circle soap opera, a detective series, or a thriller with world wide implications. Whatever the direction, it needs to speed up.

If you watched the original series you might be highly disappointed by this remake.

The success of the original series can be expressed in three words: Eddington, Hawthorne and Fowlds. The parts they played fit them like a Savile Row suit. Also, the scripts were pertinent to the times and the series was a welcome counterpoint to the Thatcher years.

This remake falls short in many areas. Primarily, the actors were miscast. I have seen Mess'rs Haig, Goodman and Larkin in other roles and they are very good, if not talented actors. But, respectively they did not display the diffidence, pomposity and pedantry that was depicted so well by the original players. In fact they appeared uncomfortable in their roles - like an ill-fitting suit.

In one respect this reminded me of the remake of Sgt. Bilko. Steve Martin, as talented as he is, is no Phil Silvers for whom the part was tailor made.

Secondly, while the scripts were OK, they certainly lacked the bite of those from the original. I was hoping for something more timely. The closest they came to it was when David Haig engaged Robbie Coltrane in a lively discussion of Scottish independence.

I was looking forward to seeing this new take on "Yes, Prime Minister. What I took was huge disappointment.

This was not one of the better police procedurals and frankly, a waste of Hayley Atwell's talent.

The three episodes cover a 28 year lifespan of WPC Denise Woods from 1985, when she was a Woman Police Constable to the present time, as she is now, a Superintendent. The initial criticism is that other than a change in hairstyle, she didn't age one bit. One would think that with all the stress of police work, and in this plot line she had her fair share of stress, she would show some physical scars from the strain of it all.

Her personal storyline was somewhat unbelievable. Promotion, demotion for planting evidence, and then promotion again to a senior rank somewhat strained the credibility. The overall plot stretching 28 years over three episodes left a lot of gaps in what could have been an interesting back-story - her relationship with her husband and her colleagues. Two additional episodes in might have been able to improve that and give some depth as to how she managed to regain and even surpass her previous rank and why it took so long for Denise Woods to catch the criminal she was so obsessed with from the beginning.

Hayley Atwell is an immensely talented actress and she has appeared in some great roles; Pillars of the Earth, The Sweeney, Falcon, etc., to name a few. This was not one of her better roles.

The three stars are for the production, which in itself was OK.

A terrorist act starts the movie off with a bang and in the earlier stages we were entertained with some fine forensic work. Jerry Bruckheimer brought CSI to the big screen perhaps.

In the acting department, there were also some solid performances from Denzel Washington, Adam Goldberg, Val Kilmer and Jim Calviezel.

The initial science fiction element was a treat for fans of multi-dimensional time observation and travel, and it also provided us with some interesting paradoxes.

Unfortunately, we then get into the last third of the movie. It's predictability was an unwelcome jolt to enjoyment I was getting from the film up to that time. The man goes back in time to rescue the beautiful damsel in distress and he succeeds admirably. I'm sure that the two of them will live out their days together in nirvana.

It seemed that the actual prevention of the terrorist act was secondary compared to the developing relationship between Denzel and his damsel.

This last part of film in my opinion spoiled what in many ways could have been one of the industry's better thrillers.

The changing the past element of the movie could have been handled more effectively without the falling in love element. It begs the obvious question - If the damsel-in-distress wasn't so stunning and beautiful, how quickly would Denzel's character offered to transport his body on a 50-50 do or die mission to go back into the past to rescue her. Would he have gone back just to prevent the bombing?

Oh for the days of "Quantum Leap" and "7 Days".