MovieChat Forums > Murderland (2009) Discussion > Boring, disappointing

Boring, disappointing

posted 13 years ago by groggo
1 reply | jump to latest

I watched this because I like Robbie Coltrane, but I ended up feeling embarrassed for him and the rest of the cast. This is basically a 50-minute film ludicrously overloaded and padded into three episodes and a length of more than two hours (about 130 minutes). It's relentlessly confusing (flashbacks on flashbacks); it's frequently boring and tedious; it's full of red herrings (did Coltrane's character do the deed or didn't he?); there's little or no suspense or tension; the character of Carol is absurd and not credible; and, last but not least, the ending is downright terrible.

The Americans stopped making good mysteries a long time ago. I depend on the Brits to do it, and they really dropped the ball on this one. What an excuse for a 'mystery' this muddled, ponderous mess is.

[–] cdunbar-3 13 years ago

I agree; if I'd known I could have skipped disc two and gone right to the third without missing anything, I would have. But there was nothing compelling about the final episode. What a ridiculous ending. Why would Oliver run down Hain in front of so many witnesses? Did the writers insert this because they knew Oliver's motive for murder was absurdly weak? The whole child-sex business was incredulous, tacked on to create a motive where none seemed to exist. This felt so much like it was being written as filmed, by inexperienced authors. Yes, indeed it was a muddled mess, wish I'd stuck with my mystery novel.