Branaugh at his best......introducing a new Detective to our screens (Wallander)

Member Name: sparkymarky1973

Product:	Wallander
Date:	27/01/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Branaugh gives an outstanding performance

Disadvantages: None- this is the best Detective drama for years...

Based on Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander crime novels written in their native swedish, this BBC adaptation is not the first time the books have been filmed. They have already been adapted as a series of swedish language films though the presence of Kenneth Branaugh in this version has lent the drama extra credubility and much stronger critical acclaim. Shown in December of last year, the series ran for three feature length episodes and is due for a return to our screens shortly.

Detective dramas are not normally to my taste on television because they are often repetive, too similar and predictable. Also they appear on terrestial T.V a hell of a lot (both BBC and ITV are guilty of this) but what caught my eye here was the choice to film in authentic locations and, of course, the casting of Branaugh. Here is an actor I have tremendous respect for, his work in Harry Potter aside, and whose work I have in recent years enjoyed in both the T.V drama Shackleton and the shocking, brutal and honest Conspiracy which covered the infamous Wannsee Conference, where Nazi officials conceived the Final Solution. (Branagh chillingly portrayed SS leader Reinhard Heydrich.)

The three episodes broadcast were Sidetracked, Firewall and One Step Behind. To date I have only watched the first two with the last still waitibg for me on recordable DVD for when I get round to it but, from what I hacve seen, this is a drama thats crying out for a second series.

Branaugh is sublime as Wallander, a Detective as likely to question the truth of human nature as he is to investigate the crimes he comes across and, though I have not read the original novels which are the source for these adaptations, by all accounts his portrayal is spot on! Wallander is a Detective with plenty of his own faults and troubles; his father is suffering the onslaught of a progressive memory disorder, his marriage is fractured and on the verge of being dissolved and his daughter is determined to help her father get his life sorted out whether he wants her to or not. The first episode begins with a young girl setting light to herself in a field full of corn and leads into the hunt for a very brutal killer who likes despatching his or her victims with an axe blow to the head. There is no attempts here to go for the overly gory shock value of shows such as Messiah but that doesn't mean that they scrimp on details by any means. The axe blow is there but it is very much blink and you'll miss it rather the sensationalist nature of other dramas.

Episode two, Firewall, is more of a conspiracy number with an equally complex and complicated case for Branaugh to get his teeth in to that draws, at times, dangerously close to his personal life outside the job. Branaugh is without question in his element here as the brooding introspective Detective and really appears to bring a lot to his role. Even those not normally interested in this genre should think about giving the series a go when it appears on DVD later this year, as it is very hard not to be impressed by his performance. The concluding episode for now, One Step Behind, features a serial killer that somehow is able to constantly stay one step ahead of Wallander and challenges his sleuth skills to the limit- this is the one I have yet to se so am unable to review it as of this time. Still it would have to be pretty awful not to match the high standards set by it's preceeding chapters.

If only all Detective dramas could be this good....but if they were, then this probably wouldn't stand out as well as it does...I'm even tempted to track down the Wallander novels; in english of course..

Summary: A welcome new direction for the Detective drama series featuring a highly respected luvvie...