Sunday, January 15, 2017

Movie review: Paranoid (2016)

When I young mother is brutally, and seemingly randomly, murdered on a playground a group of detectives are drawn in to investigate. Before long their investigation takes some strange turns none of them expected.

Indira Varma (Nina), Robert Glenister (Bobby), Dino Fetscher (Alec), Neil Stuke (Michael), Christiane Paul (Linda), Lesley Sharp (Lucy),Dominik Tiefenthaler (Walti), Michael Maloney (Crowley).

Paranoid begins well enough, jumping straight to the story with the playground murder of a mother in front of children. The film quickly adds the Ghost Detective to move things along, which drives the story to be bigger than originally expected. As the storyline expands, it also seems to lose some focus and the details get a bit muddy. The result is a story that feels like it is meandering with little direction to an ending that is easy to miss if you aren't paying attention.

Acting was somewhat lacking in this one. Varma trying to be funny felt out of place, as it did when she was put into intimate situations. Glenister was interesting, though his delivery was quite flat at times. Sharp was enjoyable with good emotion, as was Tiefenthaler. The remainder of the cast was mixed.

Camera work, sets, and backgrounds are enjoyable with nice variety, detail, and a solid feel. Action scenes are mild but decent. Dialogue was a bit dry and lifeless at times and could have added more to the film. Sound and soundtrack were okay.

While the first episode or two of Paranoid are good, and conceptually it sounds nice, the plot points in the series are so understated it loses energy and audience interest. Action or acting might have overcome the lack of energy but suffered from the same lethargy. Die hard mystery fans may enjoy this one but for most, take a pass.

With some mild violence and disturbing images, this should be fine for teens and above.

Released: 2016
Reviewed: 1.3.17
Star rating: 2 out of 5
Genre: TV Shows, British TV shows, British Crime TV shows, British TV drama

copyright ©2017 Dave Riedel

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