Film Synopsis (courtesy of imdb):
In Seattle, Det. Sarah Linden is on what is supposed to be her last day on the job. She and her son Jack are supposed to leave that evening to join her fiancé in Sonoma. Her replacement, Det. Stephen Holder, is ready to take over but they answer a call from a patrol car who has found a bloodied sweater in a field. When the missing girl, Rosie Larsen, is found in the trunk of a car at the bottom of a lake, it turns out the car is registered to the campaign committee for councilman Darren Richmond, who is running for mayor. Linden delays her departure for what she hopes will be only a few days.
My Take:
From writer, executive producer and series show runner Veena Sud (“Cold Case”) The Killing is a crime drama that ties together three distinct stories around a single murder including the detectives assigned to the case, the victim’s grieving family, and the suspects. The Killing is a well-written show that relies heavily on the effectiveness of its characters to convey the thematic weight of its subject matter. The plot is simple, a teenage girl disappears and is found murdered. Although the tagline is “Who Killed Rosie Larson?” the entire season one is concentrated more on the “why” than the “who”.
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The storyline is intriguing, the main casts are rather powerful. Picture and sound quality are at par with many other crime drama TV series although nowhere as stylistic as the CSI franchise (and thank God for that). However, the supporting casts are simply bad. I’m not talking about good actors with bad direction. The supporting casts are just plain awful. It’s akin to watching a high school production cast. Truly detracts me out of the story. I find myself wanting to fire the entire supporting cast and the casting director for casting them.
Whether it’s worth buying can truly be judged by you. To me, the story is intriguing enough that although the supporting casts can be substituted by a bunch of donkeys, the series work well by itself. If you don’t like donkeys hee-haw-ing scattered around the strong main casts and storyline, buy something else.
Equipment used for this review:
Anthem MRX-700 Receiver
Grandviewscreen 96” 21:9 matte-white 1.0-gain screen
Kimber Kable 19e HDMI cables
PSB Century 300i (front and surround speakers)
PSB Image C5 (centre speaker)
PSB Subseries 300 (subwoofer)
Panasonic PT-AE7000U projector
Pioneer BDP-62FD BD player
Ultralink Ambiance MKII speaker wires
Viewing room is as per THX and SMPTE recommendation with 45-degree Field of View
Audio: 8/10
Video: 8/10
Storyline: 8/10
GENERAL INFORMATION
Studio and Year: 20th Century Fox – 2011
MPAA Rating: TV-14
Feature running time: 587 minutes
Genre: TV/Crime Drama
Disc Format: BD-50
Encoding: AVC (MPEG-4)
Video Aspect: 1.78:1
Resolution: 1080p/24
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Starring: Mireille Enos, Billy Campbell, Joel Kinnaman, Michelle Forbes, Brent Sexton
Directed by: Various
Music by: Frans Bak
Written by: Veena Sud & Soren Sveistrup
Region Code: A
Blu-ray Disc release Date: March 13, 2012