DVD
Review | Prime Suspect 4
Written by: Kage
Alan
I do owe it to my partner that I even wanted to
get into this series in the first place. While I love British
comedies, I’m not quite as big on dramas or even the detective genre.
Fortunately, that matters very little to him and he was going to watch
the show whether I wanted to or not. Fortunately, I’m a dog in the
Chinese Zodiac and will tend to wag my tail and make nice to him.
Hence…I watched the show. And even though I didn’t “have” to like it,
I did. Okay, I loved it and was eager to dive into all the other
“Prime Suspect” releases of which there are a total of 6 at the time
of this writing.
There are a total of three separate cases in this
release instead of a single one. The first is “The Lost Child” and
deals with the apparent kidnapping of a baby and the search for it.
Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) does have a prime
suspect and the man, Chris Hughes (Robert Glenister), is a doozy. Chris
lives with his girlfriend and her two young children, which is all well
and fine. The catch? He’s also a convicted pedophile. Is he
Tennison’s man or is there something else going on? What ugliness will
come out? This is really a fairly straight up story and not as good as
previous entries, but better than the second one.
The second story, “Inner Circles,” involves the
murder of a country club manager and the (of course) subsequent
investigation that takes place. Dealing more with the differences
between those who are poor and thought to be powerless and those who are
rich and who hold all the power, “Inner Circles” tends to stumble around
and look like a “Prime Suspect” episode (Helen Mirren is playing the
title character, after all), but it doesn’t feel like one. The finale
is rather blah and it just doesn’t feel like the writers and producers
had a clear grasp of what they were going for. Mirren is top notch
again, but then we’ve come to expect that.
The final story, “The Scent Of Darkness,” makes
“Prime Suspect 4” entirely worth watching. A series of murders harkens
back to Tennison’s first case in which she put George Marlow away.
Unfortunately, there are those who believe she was mistaken and that
Marlow is really innocent. Is he or is this some elaborate plot? Well,
it’s elaborate all right and Tennison is literally obsessed with
discovering the truth, no matter what the cost. Her supervisors want
nothing more than to get rid of her once and for all and go to great
lengths to see this happen. The final scene where she takes an
opportunity to confront these men is, in a word, classic! A little long
in the tooth with the scenes with Marlow himself, “The Scent of
Darkness” still turns out quite well.
HBO has released “Prime Suspect 4” in its original
Full Screen ratio. Video quality still isn’t the greatest and tends to
have its fair share of grain and darkness, but then this is television.
It actually does add to the nitty and gritty approach of the stories, so
it tends to work despite itself. Audio quality is fine, so no major
complaints there. My only complaint is the same that it’s been since
“Prime Suspect 1”; no extras. There are no trailers, no commentaries,
no featurettes…nothing. This is very disappointing.
While the mysteries drive this series, there is
also enough focus on Tennison’s less-than-thrilling personal life.
She’s chosen career over anything else and has suffered because of it.
And her supervisors? She’s going to need therapy dealing with these
“good ol’ boys” and their boys club. The truth is that she’s better
than 95% of them and they can’t handle it. The male ego is such a frail
thing. Right, so bring on “Prime Suspect 5!”
Film Rating: C+
DVD Special Features: N/A
|
