Is the American version of the Danish crime series as good?
A woolly jumper was spotted. And the heroine still sports messy hair. But is the US remake of the Danish crime series The Killing as good as the original?
The endurance-testing 20-hour subtitled murder drama Forbrydelsen (as it is known in Danish) left its 500,000 BBC4 viewers transfixed with so many twists and turns that ? as the Guardian's Grace Dent put it ? "you lie in bed at night worrying that you did it." Fans raved about its ability to make municipal Nordic politics interesting, the realistic focus on the grief of the victim's family and, of course, the fabled scruffiness of its complex protagonist who always seemed to be wearing the same two sweaters.
Now the Americans have had a go at it, transplanting the action from a rainy, dark Copenhagen to an equally rainy, dark Seattle, while deputy superintendent Sarah Lund has been reborn as homicide detective Sarah Linden. The plot still focuses on an investigation into a teenager's murder ? although the motive has been changed. But is it any good?
The New York Times thinks so, praising the bleak drama as so "well told that it's almost heartening". The LA Times appreciated the slow pace, and was struck by the fact that whole scenes were dedicated to elements "that would be dealt with in 30 seconds on another show". Over on Entertainment Weekly the critic could have watched "all 13 hours of it in one or two sittings" and the Wall Street Journal liked the fact that Linden looked "as beaten-down as possible".
But for Guardian TV blogger Sarah Hughes, there is one big problem: despite Linden being complicated and aloof, and wearing the all-important oversized knitwear, "she's no Sarah Lund."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/apr/05/the-killing-us-version
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