paul2001sw-1
Henning Mankell's 'Wallander' detective stories have been variously brought to the screen. In some respects, they feel like a Swedish version of 'Inspector Morse': a morose middle-aged detective, with a fondness for alcohol and never-to-be-fulfilled romance with younger women, solves preposterous plots in a pretty town bizarrely afflicted by murders. If one can see past the genre, this sort of stuff can be quite entertaining, but I didn't feel much of the two previous (actually made later) versions of Wallander I'd seen: in the Swedish television series, every plot seemed to end with the life of Wallander's daughter under threat; in the British television version, Kenneth Branagh played a man so washed out you could barely see him against the background. The Swedish films starring Rolf Lassgard, however, are much better. Lassgard brings the character believably and vibrantly to life, even if some of the plots are still frankly silly (this one, for example, features bombs detonated by pulse-meters). It's not 'The Killing', by any means; but by far the best of the Wallander adaptations.
Tweekums
This story that marks the conclusion of Rolf Lassgård's version of Wallander also involves the solution of his first case. As Kurt and the team are investigating the site of a plane crash he receives a phone call informing him that his goddaughter as died after overdosing on pure heroin. When it is learnt that the plane was shot down he begins to think that the two cases are connected and there is a new dealer in town trying to remove the competition. His colleagues think he is taking it too personally especially after a lead he is following unofficially leads him to a man he thinks he met once before, twenty-five years ago when his goddaughter's mother had been shot because he couldn't bring himself to shoot an armed criminal. Not everything is going badly for Kurt though; he quickly becomes friendly with one of his goddaughter's friends who had offered to help him by asking a few questions amongst the drug using and dealing community. As the case continues the body count rises rapidly with lots of people being blown up or shot; clearly the new dealer will stop at nothing to take control of the area.This story was exciting with several spectacular explosions, exciting shootouts and a young girl forced to wear an explosive belt that will detonate if the main criminals pulse either goes too high or stops. I liked how this final case for Kurt was linked via flashbacks to his first case and was also pleased to see him get a happy ending… although this isn't really the end of Wallander as he is in further series with actors Krister Henriksson and Kenneth Branagh; each of the three actors bring something very different to the characters so each version seems quite different.
