Do not read this if you haven't seen it. I say that because this is a really good show and worth watching for great performances and writing. James Nesbitt and Kevin Doyle are fantastic, as they usually are. Good story, great dialogue well executed, enough action and violence to make anyone seeking this genre happy. Too bad it all falls apart in the last few minutes.
Whether it's lazy script-writing (and before you think "hey, could you do better?" remember that if I were in the position where I wrote a fantastic first 80 minutes, I'd sure as hell be able to finish it off without negating everything else I'd just done) or the suits upstairs calling the shots and making unwanted changes or some idiotic focus group dismantling artistic merit, I don't know, but the end result simply doesn't work.
Anyone clever enough to plan and execute a kidnapping, an incarceration where he doesn't buckle under to threats, extortion or coercion (even to someone who saved their life), an intricate ransom subterfuge and escape plan, is surely not so stupid to risk everything by falling for the classic victim recovering in hospital bait. Although his escape hinges on the victim not being found, she is, though she hasn't recovered. Murphy lies and says she has, but won't be talking for a couple of days. No worries, he'll be gone (to a country with no extradition). Even if he were concerned, he surely wouldn't have sent his stooge into hospital (where the victim would very likely be under police protection) until after he'd already gone. Finally, the oh-so-obviously contrived retrieval of the toy is just the icing on the cake that is a script shamelessly pandering to the happy ending. Is it even worth mentioning that while the cops have contrived the bait and set-up, yet no cops are following him or have made it to the airport until he's almost left? And they're unaware of the wife and kids running off with the ransom money?
80 minutes of Einstein and 10 of dumb and dumber.
Whether it's lazy script-writing (and before you think "hey, could you do better?" remember that if I were in the position where I wrote a fantastic first 80 minutes, I'd sure as hell be able to finish it off without negating everything else I'd just done) or the suits upstairs calling the shots and making unwanted changes or some idiotic focus group dismantling artistic merit, I don't know, but the end result simply doesn't work.
Anyone clever enough to plan and execute a kidnapping, an incarceration where he doesn't buckle under to threats, extortion or coercion (even to someone who saved their life), an intricate ransom subterfuge and escape plan, is surely not so stupid to risk everything by falling for the classic victim recovering in hospital bait. Although his escape hinges on the victim not being found, she is, though she hasn't recovered. Murphy lies and says she has, but won't be talking for a couple of days. No worries, he'll be gone (to a country with no extradition). Even if he were concerned, he surely wouldn't have sent his stooge into hospital (where the victim would very likely be under police protection) until after he'd already gone. Finally, the oh-so-obviously contrived retrieval of the toy is just the icing on the cake that is a script shamelessly pandering to the happy ending. Is it even worth mentioning that while the cops have contrived the bait and set-up, yet no cops are following him or have made it to the airport until he's almost left? And they're unaware of the wife and kids running off with the ransom money?
80 minutes of Einstein and 10 of dumb and dumber.
