SummaryKenneth Branagh plays a Swedish detective called Kurt Wallander in this crime drama for the BBC.
The show is an adaptation of Swedish author Henning Mankell's critically acclaimed book series, the Kurt Wallander Mysteries.
SummaryKenneth Branagh plays a Swedish detective called Kurt Wallander in this crime drama for the BBC.
The show is an adaptation of Swedish author Henning Mankell's critically acclaimed book series, the Kurt Wallander Mysteries.
The pacing is occasionally so slow and deliberate that it may test some viewers’ patience, but the series takes its time because the real mystery is Wallander and his uneasy inner life.
The cases he tackles are intriguing, if wildly complicated and too often sustained by that peculiar TV mystery mix of intuitive leaps and bad basic police work....Yet as with all such shows, it's the main character who provides the main reason for watching, as the long-suffering Wallander struggles to solve the crimes and put his life back in order.
Kenneth Branagh is perfect as one of its broken-down men. His face telegraphs defeat even as he relentlessly answers the call to duty, on a cell phone that never stops ringing with news of another crime.
Branagh is pretty good at being mopey and jowly, and the rest of the cast is fine as well. It's just that none of this really adds up to anything very compelling.