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Prime Suspect 6:
The Last Witness |
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| Starring: Helen Mirren, Ben Miles, Oleg Menshikov Directed by: Tom Hooper |
Original Broadcast Date: 2004
DVD Release: 2004
Released by: HBO Video Dolby
Digital 2.0 Surround
Fullscreen |
| Tennison’s Opposite in America  Questioning authority is not something
the military condones. The chain of command is in place to guarantee that orders will be
carried out, even under the most catastrophic conditions. Freethinkers like Jane Tennison
are not the rule; they are the exception and would be court-martialed immediately. Her
approach to problem solving flies in the face of protocols that support the military
complex.
Spartan (Warner Home Video, ****) mixes equal doses
of action and mesmerizing exposition into a genuinely riveting experience. David
Mamet’s command of language charges the pacing and intonation of the storytelling and
keeps it from falling into cliché. Like a good melody, his dialogue draws you in and
keeps you attentive to every action. And Mamet’s direction never upstages his
dialogue; the camera simply centers our attention on the action while adding subtle
foreshadowing.
Val Kilmer’s "Scott" is the antithesis of
Jane Tennison. He follows orders without question, at any cost. His problem-solving
abilities are reactive, rather than proactive: he thinks outside the box only when the
situation doesn’t correlate to his military training. He is a machine, a robot that
carries out preprogrammed tasks. It is only when two younger, less-jaded recruits open his
eyes to the flaws within the system that he sidesteps protocol to do what is fundamentally
and morally right.
The reserved, British course of Prime Suspect 6 may
be a model of precise drama, but Spartan shows us the future of the
action/adventure genre and where it will need to go to stay fresh.
...Anthony Di Marco
anthony@hometheatersound.com |
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When she first appeared, Tennison was assigned to a case no
one else wanted -- the murder of a prostitute, a crime that seemed to have an
open-and-shut solution. Clawing her way through the opposition of men who resented her
merely for being a woman in authority, Tennison proved that she was right. And Helen
Mirren proved that the role of the stalwart, stubborn, never-give-up chief superintendent
detective was just right for her.
By the time we reach The Last Witness, the sixth
episode, Tennison is eligible for retirement, an offer she tosses off as merely an option.
What would Jane Tennison do if she was not pursuing criminals? Over the five previous
episodes, the woman has given herself so completely to her work that it is hard to imagine
her doing anything else. After the meeting with her superiors who suggest that she might
retire, Tennison wrests a case from a junior detective and is back on the trail. This time
she is chasing the sadistic murderer of a young Muslim woman, whose body is found,
mutilated by cigarette burns. The girl was obviously tortured and Tennison traces the
manner of killing back to a case in Bosnia. As always, Prime Suspect is timely and
right on the current mark.
If you have not seen the show, be warned that it is not
like an American action/adventure/crime show. There is lots of talk and reasoning and
investigative work. In fact, about halfway through the first of two parts, I remarked to
myself that all these people working on one case would cost the UK a pretty penny. But
when action is called for, it is there. In fact, the end of the first part, in which the
detectives race through hospital corridors to find the victim’s sister before the
killer does, is one of the most thrilling bits in current television. Combining unusual
camera work, quick cutting, and a pulsing music score, the producers achieve breathless
and nerve-wracking suspense.
The Last Witness was shown on British TV in
widescreen, and the UK DVD is widescreen anamorphic. For some reason, HBO has given a 4:3
version. Was this an effort to make it match the first five episodes, which HBO has just
re-released? If so, it succeeded, for this one looks like the others: chalky and overly
bright in outdoor scenes, murky and grainy during indoor shots. One has never turned to
this show for great video reproduction. It gets by on its dramatic resources and
Mirren’s crackerjack performance. The sound is decent, though surround is used in a
hit-or-miss manner. The music score sounds very good, especially the aforementioned panic
scene.
There is one short extra, a cast and crew interview with
Mirren and writer Peter Berry. The interview sheds some light on the production, but it is
lightweight as far as extras go, especially considering the dramatic depths that this
engrossing thriller plumbs. HBO’s packaging of this series bears some mention. The
DVDs are housed in hardcover folds-outs with heavy, clear plastic insides that hold the
disc. It is a very substantial box, suitable for keeping a very substantial show safe on
the shelf. |
