Tuesday 5 April 2011

'THE KILLING' 1.1 & 1.2 - "Pilot" & "The Cage"

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Investigate Obsessed With Film, where I've reviewed the double-bill premiere of AMC's new crime drama THE KILLING, a remake of the acclaimed Danish TV series Forbrydelsen. Murder! Suspects! Police! Rain, lots of rain!

Denmark's 2006 TV series Forbrydelsen (The Crime) has been wowing a niche audience on BBC4 over the past few months, but here comes the inevitable US remake. Fortunately, it's from cable channel AMC, who have established themselves as the new home of high-quality US drama in recent years (owing to the success of Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead), so it'll come as no surprise to find The Killing is a tremendous remake, if currently slavish to the Danish.

"Who Killed Rosie Larsen?" It's a question that'll sound familiar to audiences who remember the media buzz surrounding Twin Peaks, another small-town murder-mystery show that had audiences wondering "who killed Laura Palmer?" in the early-'90s. The Killing is essentially that landmark David Lynch/Mark Frost series, minus its off-kilter ambience and surreal flourishes, here shepherded by Veena Sud (Cold Case), who cleaves very close to the Danish pilot for her Seattle-set remake. Continue reading...