Fatal Crossing (2023– ) User Reviews

Boring and clumsy

[bertel-349-509071 · 5/10 · 5 January 2024]

I had really been looking forward to this, nordic crime, as so often before, and hopefully as good as usual.

But despite a good story, based on a popular book, a cast that seems to deliver, even if not big stars, it ends up boring, because so little happens, way to many empty pauses, and characters that stare empty into the void. If the series was shorted by one third, it would work.

On top of that, lines that is too much, that no one would say in real life, and is too clumsy. Sometime I wonder if the book has a deeper layer, that the movie never dig enough into and we therefore do not understand. Instead we hear actors say sentences that is not really connected to anything and sound like a cliche.

It is not all bad, after all I watched it to the end. It's just never really good. Maybe I should read the book.

Slug's Paced "thriller"

[rp-104-231135 · 5/10 · 30 December 2023]

So they skimped on an editor - a shame. Could've worked in four episodes. Way too slow paced. The last two episodes, where you'd expect it to become exciting, 'thrilling' it completely deflates and leaves the viewers in this household yawning and glancing at their phones. The author surely can't be pleased with the result? The actors all do their best to make this glacier-moving narrative work, but have apparently all been told to speak excruciatingly slowly. If you have the time, then give it a go, but if you don't need to have everything repeated and regurgitated for you again and again, then give it a miss.

Not worth watching

[jacob-la-cour · 4/10 · 18 January 2024]

Very poorly scripted, with too many plot holes and unrealistic plot behaviour. Foreign viewers may not notice the theatrically presented lines and artificial lines, but a Danish viewer will quickly notice. Foreign viewers will, however, notice how slooooowlyy things move. The 8 x 40 minutes could easily have been reduced to half without losing anything. But not even that would make it worth watching due to the poor and unbelievable plot. I never understood why film makers don't have professionals proof read their scripts before thet start filming, among others to check if the behaviour of the poliecemen is at least remotely plausible.

Boring clumsy direction

[studio-491-332591 · 1/10 · 21 January 2024]

I felt hesitant from the very beginning. My intuiton was telling me to stop every 15min because of the bad direction. I have no clue why I ended up watched the whole thing.. The direction and script is awkward, clumsy and has strange "staged" long breaks and pauses that makes one frustrated till the very end.

The main character is fake and I can't feel her true self. The story has sooooo many holes and missing scenes (big/small), that one ends up puzzled why (WHY!) they decided to cut that out / or simply not film it. The story has a lot of potential, but this is really not worth watching. Sorry.. I was hoping for a good nortic crime serie, but ended up being angry and annoied for 8x40min instead.

Intelligent and slow-paced psychological crime

[sofiatrgrsn · 10/10 · 21 December 2023]

It is an intelligent slow-paced crime show with strong characters, beautiful scenery and good acting. It's almost the opposite of Kastanjemannen - it's intelligent, you think you got it all figured out early on, but then the story is slowly twisting in an unexpected direction. I love Lone Theil's books about Nora Sand, and I think Marie Sandø Jondal is a perfect fit for Nora. It's a psychological story, of course, the main character has to solve a mystery within herself, and the riddle is existential and deals with anxiety ("angst" in Danish) and psychological motives with references to the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (Nora's father is a professor on the great danish philosopher). I was amazed by the extremely long scenes towards the end of the show - and how my presuppositions made me draw the wrong conclusions.

My GOD it's bad!

[JerlskovFlunkhede · 1/10 · 20 January 2024]

I wanted to like this, I really did. After 1st episode I thought 'wow this kinda sucks - but perhaps next episode will be better.' It was worse. And episode three was even worse, believe it or not. And then I gave up.

First of all, the actors are stage actors, not screen actors. And it shows, my God how it shows. On stage you deliver the lines in a completely different way than on screen, where the lines and the way they are delivered must sound realistic and natural; believable. I am a native danish speaker and believe me, the lines and the way they are delivered .. well it's so cringe, my toes are completely curled up on themselves and it'll be a while before they straighten out. Frankly I'm shocked. It's embarrassing.

Second, the protagonist is not only played by a bad actress, she is thoroughly unlikable. As a viewer you want her to STFU and behave like a normal person. A protagonist should have a hook, something that draws in the viewer. In this case the protagonist has no redeeming qualities - why would the viewer care about her?

Third, it's completely unbelievable. All of it. The scene that finally made me give up was in part 3, where a woman is holding a shotgun to the head of a suspect, threatening to shoot him and clearly showing signs of being unstable. And they send in a friggin journalist to talk her down! Really!? Somehow the makers of this series thought that would be believable? Jeez, the incompetence..

OK, so the police keep their distance, they don't surround crazy gun lady, they leave it all to A JOURNALIST of all people. Then, after crazy gun lady shoots the suspect (as expected), they finally decide to step in. It's not just a joke, it's an insult to the intelligence of the viewers.

It would NEVER happen. The journalist would NEVER be allowed near crazy gun lady. Gun lady would have been shot as soon as someone had a clear line of sight. You don't show patience when crazy people hold shotguns to other people's heads, they are taken out immediately - even in Denmark. She would have been carried away with a hole in her head.

After this display of extreme stupidity on the part on the makers of the series, I just couldn't watch the rest. I suggest you skip it too.

Thank you for this gem of a Nordic Crime

[Dallas71 · 9/10 · 7 January 2024]

When my wife encouraged me to see this one, I resisted, mainly because I hadn't really heard about it, and I certainly thought I didn't have the time. But as she persisted I gave it a try, and got quickly hooked. Within the afternoon I catched up with her, and we watched the remaining 4 episodes together in the evening. I mention this because I have always loved to watch TV with others rather than alone, and in this one it's good to have someone to discuss details with. I don't think I've ever digested a show this fast, I don't binge watch often. This is like a good book. A real pageturner. I felt it was so refreshing with a "new" cast of actors, of whom I only knew a few. I think it made the mystery even more unpredictable. When other claims it's too slow, I disagree. It doesn't have to fast paced and packed to the max with sound efffects and loud music to be thrilling. Yes, certain editors would maby have cut it shorter, but I personally loved every second. Thank You for this. Good work. More please.

Unrealistic and annoying crap

[theokanerva · 1/10 · 2 March 2024]

Ordii crime has always been a favorite genre; Danish and British crime series always leave you with a more or less satisfying feeling that you've been entertained, amused, jawdropped and/or chocked by the twists and turns of the narrative and characters . Always with a well thought out casting and directing.

But here we have a great example of the exception that Roves the rule.

Handing out every unrealistic cliche in the genre, in a painstakingly slow tempo, that doesn't bring the plot forward, nor deepens the characters, this is from beginning to its ridiculous ending a total shipwreck. We really tried to the bitter end to find some qualities in this but it all ends up in a huge pile of pompous doodoo.

I highly recommend that you watch wall paint dry up instead; it gives you a greater experience and depth to the narrative and characters.