Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Truly Dreadful Film

Powerful

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Well, it tried to be Prime Suspect, and whilst it didn't hit those dizzy heights, it still made for really entertaining TV. Even though it's only a few years back (it's now 2009) it seems like dramas back then were far more gruesome, gory and designed to just plain shock, they were all at it, Waking the Dead, Wire in the Blood, Silent Witness, the latter possible the worst offender.Back to Above Suspicion, the story is solid, nothing really original I guess, what made it different I guess was Kelly Reilly, fresh faced, strikingly pretty, and just different somehow, wonderfully talented. I wouldn't say I've always been the biggest fan of Ciarán Hinds, but he's very good in this, Shaun Dingwall is fun as always, but it's Jason Durr that steals the show, what a wasted, underused talent he is, very capable, very handsome, no reason for him not to be better known.Still waiting for 'Tennyson' the story of a young Jane, we're being starved of LaPlante dramas.7/10

Can I start by saying that, with a few changes, this would have got 7 or 8 stars. However.....Why didn't they simply ram the plane at the end. It wasn't moving, their car was doing at least 40mph, there's no way the plane would have got away - single engine light aircraft on grass just can't accelerate that quickly. It didn't need to be a spectacular fireball, just a tap to break the undercarriage. What persuaded the scriptwriters to make Travis refuse to do it - it made absolutely no sense. Similarly, why didn't Langton simply jump in the driver's seat of the car and chase the plane himself. Just ludicrous. Then, having let the plane take off, why didn't they get on to air traffic control and have the plane tracked? Its range would be around 400 miles maximum, forcing it to land in Europe i.e. somewhere it could easily be tracked and caught when it landed.Why didn't Travis remember the photo of the aeroplane, and do something about it - it's such an obvious way for a drug dealer to move around? Why did they believe the sister - a known liar - when she sent them on the wild goose chase to the railway station? Why didn't they call the airfield, or the police station nearest the airfield, once they realised they'd been had? Why hadn't they checked the sister's husband's background to find out who he was? Why did they believe an FBI man with an English accent? Why did they let him into the incident room, instead of showing him to an external meeting room? Why did the forensic scientist not call his facial recognition results though to the incident room instead of walking across to reveal the results? Why did the satnav have a route down the unmade track through the wood to the hidden farmhouse? I could go on......So, a reasonable plot idea, but turned into a poor excuse for a police thriller through complete lack of thought by the scriptwriters. Add the terrible stock characters with little or no character development, and you understand why it's only 1/10.

I do like a good TV thriller - "Wire In The Blood", James Nesbitt's "Murphy's Law", Sam Ryan-era "Silent Witness" and of course "Inspector Morse" all spring to mind, but this hackneyed "Junior Prime Suspect" re-write failed to overcome its stereotypical characterisation and (with one exception) by-numbers acting to leave a lasting impression.The plot is very second-hand to these eyes with Kelly Reilly bringing a Jennifer Aniston-type weight (i.e. none at all) to her part following in the big footsteps of her late cop dad, all high-heels and pancake make-up and how she convinces big bad lecherous superior Ciaran Hinds that she can do the job and become "one of the boys".I for one was sorry to see Hinds reduced to this one-dimensional role, the typical high-ranking chauvinist "guvnor" identifiable from any number of previous LaPlante dramas, who hits on his junior female officer and expects the older females to run after him bringing him tea and sandwiches (no tomatoes!).You at first think you're watching a whodunit but after you realise there are no other potential suspects on show and remember LaPlante's MO, you merely await the unravelling of abused child-cum famous actor-cum split-personality psychopath at the hands of the doe-eyed Lewis, although said breakdown is superbly conveyed in broad Mancunian by an excellent Jason Durr.That performance apart this came across to me as very much formulaic fare, with the by now over-familiar LaPlante techniques of split-screen depiction, unimaginative flashback inserting and undramatic cross-cutting of scenes, dumbed down for mass consumption by a writer long overdue an attack of originality.

I must say, that Above Suspicion was very good and very entertaining.It was reasonably disturbing, frightening, humorous, dramatic and gripping all at the same time. I have not read the books, so my opinion of this adaption may be false, yet i see no strong fault in this TV drama at all! I was a little confused by how the main character Travis was portrayed, as for the woman who is supposed to be the star of the show, it wasn't shown particularly well, neither by the writers or the actress.In fact, the star of the show was Jason Durr with his complex rising actor abused by his mother and the prostitutes that occupied the brothel she ran when he was a child. Even before the interview sequence where the horrid maniac that his character turns out to be is revealed he is still the most watchable actor in the entire show.Trually a talented man on a very good drama.Fantastic.R.