The Team DVD/BluRay review

The Team (2015) DVD/BluRay Nordic Noir and Beyond FCD1272

An exciting, new police thriller comes to DVD hot on the heels of its British premiere on More4 TV in February 2017, ‘The Team’. Stretched over five countries and involving the Police detective teams of three nations, the action rarely lets up as the grim story unfolds. Produced by a Pan-European wealth of talent, ‘The Team’s title is as appropriate to the production as the storyline. Premiered in 2015 on Danish DR TV it’s hard to understand what took the British buyer so long.

The plot is as grim as it gets; a series of murders of prostitutes have been shocking the continent, one in Copenhagen, one in Berlin, one in Antwerp, each time, the victim shot through the left eye and a finger chopped off at the first knuckle. The Police forces of all three countries are marshalled together to form a joint effort to stop the brutality, apparently the work of just one person. The crime scenes are awash with clues, some pointing to Jean Louis Poquelin (Carlos Leal), an investigative journalist with a previous accusation to his name. A tantalising piece of evidence, in the shape of a photograph of four bikini clad girls, three of whom are victims, adds poignancy and a note of dire urgency to the investigation.

Heading up the Danish investigation is Harald Bjorn (Lars Mikkelsen), a tall, intense, middle-aged man with a sepulchral voice, who drifts about the screen like a vengeful ghost, as he negotiates the perilous waters of marriage to a younger, currently pregnant wife, and being forced into the presence of a former lover, Jackie Mueller (Jasmin Great), chief of the German team. Jackie, a watchful, cautious young woman with a family of her own to worry about, has an intern thrust upon her; her boss’s ambitious daughter, Natasha Stark (Miriam Stein), whose keenness and attention to detail does her much credit. Belgian chief Alicia Verbeeck, (Veerle Baetens) is beyond doubt the edgiest of all of The Team, a lithe, twisting, turning bag of nerves with a face sculpted by endless grimaces and brow-furrowing at the rough hand life has dealt her. Her assistant, Frank Aers (Koen De Bouw), a saturnine, taciturn man with an agenda from Alicia’s mistrusting superior, Stephane Pernel (Hilde Van Mieghem)is more hindrance than help, perhaps deliberately.

Barely a moment is wasted in this eight part drama, as the team shuttle from one country to another, in an effort to prevent another grisly murder. Along the way, they encounter the deeply disturbing world of people traffickers, headed up by a well-known, successful and largely untouchable Ukranian businessman, Marius Loukauskis. Played with a terrifying level of threat and a dose of sang froid by Nicholas Ofczarek, Loukauskis exists in a comfortable upper crust world of parties, business meetings and luxury, protected by his well paid, loyal henchmen and a network of pliant bankers and government officials, free to pursue his multiple businesses, held together by terror, slavery and money laundering.

The current vogue for Nordic/Scandi-Noir looks like sticking around for some time, and it’s not hard to see why. Good, almost torn-from-the-headlines plots, varied, believable characters but with a human s ide to each, and plenty of action, both muscle powered and hi-tech assisted. The inclusion of a frankly, unbelievably talented computer whiz kid is my only grumble, even if her personal story rivals the others’ for sheer sympathy. You will hardly notice the eight, one-hour episodes going by.

Scenester

26/3/17

Link for preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6LXWHxyISs&feature=youtu.be
Link to site:
http://scenester1964.webeden.co.uk/#/the-team/4593775600

Link to Nordic Noir:
http://nordicnoir.tv/news/take-the-team-home-on-dvd/

< Older Post Newer Post >

Share

Mail