Nice effects though.

Good concept, poorly executed.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Young college student Prentice, at the request of his grandmother, tries to uncover the truth about the disappearance of his uncle Rory, now missing for seven years. Despite what the cover artwork of both the DVD set and novel might suggest, The Crow Road is not horror. At it's heart it is a slow-burn dark mystery film dealing with family secrets and the surrounding drama. With a little romance thrown in. Some "shagging" as well but nothing I would call erotic; more used to advance plot points. Another thread that weaves throughout the entire narrative is an examination of the existence of God...nothing overtly religious or preachy, it's handled intelligently and used to good effect in setting up family relationship dynamics. I was happy to see that the darkly funny bits from the novel were carried over to the film as well.Revealing secrets and other family history is done with much use of flashbacks. I'm not a fan of long flashbacks that take you out of the moment and force you to refocus your attention elsewhere, often completely changing the mood. But that's not the case here. The flashbacks are mostly a continuation of the current mood, usually interesting, and kept brief enough so that they don't become annoying.Enjoyable, as was the original novel. In rating this one it would be all too easy to not be objective and give in to nostalgia. With that in mind: The story is complex and requires a bit of study but it's a good story. Competent acting, effective music and sound score, impressive coastal Scottish landscapes. It all holds up pretty well.

Being a fan of BBC series, I was happy to find this set at my library. After sitting through almost four hours of often-obscure plot and poor sound (why 2-channel stereo when surround sound is easy to do now?), I thought I'd share my impressions. The rating is for the actors who are often excellent (Bill Paterson is one of my favourites today, and Peter Capaldi is very fine here) rather than for the technical aspects and the script. This really should have been a 90-minute movie rather than a miniseries.Some reviewers have complained about the Scots accents being too thick; I found the dialogue easy to understand with one exception: Valerie Edmond playing Ashley delivered her lines with a really heavy accent that forced me to use my headphones. But she does an excellent job with her character, so I didn't mind really.

Sometimes a screen version of a story recognises that it doesn't have to be a slavish copy of the book in order to do it justice. Sometimes it remembers to rely on visuals rather than words. This mini-series utilised a very clever plot device to highlight Prentice's confusion, questions and internal dialogue.The darkly comic story opens up at the funeral of Prentice's grandmother who subsequently explodes. This bizarre event sets the tone for the rest of the four episodes and lets you know right away, that you're not watching a standard mystery.But more relevantly... shortly before Granny died, she set Prentice a little task. Find out what happened to Uncle Rory. Now, Rory has been missing for about seven years now and nobody knows where he is. He got on his motorbike one day and drove off - never to be seen again. Various family members have their theories on what happened to him, but they are a quirky and strange bunch with their own secrets, so their thoughts are open to interpretation, anyway. And the rest of the clues are present in Rory's memoirs which are haphazard, random and - due to his disappearance - incomplete.So the story gradually unwinds. The viewer never knows any more or less than Prentice knows himself and he is unwilling to face some of the less savoury details. Further events, funerals and family gatherings, together with Rory's own notes inspire flashbacks and memories that flesh out all the characters, provide fresh suspicions and theories and ultimately provides one of those "Ooohh" moments where everything finally falls into place. I mean it. You might well find yourself shouting at Prentiss to "Make the #*$ing connections!" I certainly did.Watch the series with a bunch of friends. Pause the DVD after every episode. Put the kettle on (or open some more beers or - if you really want to savour the mood - pour some whisky), recap what happened with each other, exchange theories and then settle back for the next instalment. Then later, you might even be inspired to read the book.Very recommended.

Magic and absurd rendering of Scotland, strong and intelligent women, the wild countryside, old computer systems and some of the problems of growing up, together with witty dialogue, an excellent set of actors and a beautiful script! Can be seen again and again...