SYNOPSICS
Sidetracked (2008) is a English movie. Philip Martin has directed this movie. Kenneth Branagh, Sarah Smart, Sadie Shimmin, Tom Beard are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2008. Sidetracked (2008) is considered one of the best Crime,Drama,Mystery movie in India and around the world.
Kurt Wallander is a police inspector in the Swedish town of Ystad. Shortly after he has seen a young girl kill herself by self-immolation, he is called to investigate the murder of government minister Wetterstedt. He has been scalped. Wealthy business-man Carlman is murdered in the same fashion, and a serial killer is clearly responsible. Drunken ex-journalist Lars Magnusson points Wallander towards Sandin, a retired and corrupt cop, who admits that he once 'cleaned up' for both the dead men but will offer no more information. The next murder is that of an habitual criminal, who has been tortured before death. His estranged wife and teen aged son are not grief-stricken. His behaviour has traumatized his younger son and sent his daughter into a mental hospital. Following another scalping, and an appeal to the public, a former prostitute tells Wallander that all the victims were connected with a vice ring, importing very young girls into Sweden. The girl who killed herself was probably ...
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Sidetracked (2008) Reviews
Well-made, attentive to details and fresh
This is the way the Swedish Wallander films should have been made in the first place, if at all. I must confess to not having read the books, but I have seen a few of the Swedish films, all done in kind of the same old, drab way that Swedish TV-films are produced: the same old cast is there, the same old way of acting (often as though a character never changes), boring cinematography, horrendous dialogue, bad soundtrack and what seems like no pretensions whatsoever. It's all very meat-and- potatoes. You know exactly what you'll be served, how it'll be presented and how you'll feel having finished it off, especially if you've seen even one previous episode in a series of these Swedish detective films, most notably "Beck". The Wallander series is successful, both as books and as TV films. Successful enough to lure people from England into doing a few TV-films, thankfully using fresh ideas. The film begins where Wallander witnesses an act of self-immolation. It continues with him and his team trying to unveil the identity of the girl who killed herself this way and why, while at the time more crimes are being committed, and are they related in some way? While the police team is focused upon, Wallander's relation to his daughter, his father and his failed marriage are happening. The episodes are spoken in English, but everything else is Swedish; they even shot a lot of footage in Sweden. As I am myself from Sweden, where I live and breathe to this day, it's very refreshing to see people from abroad come in and use our culture to build a quite carefully planned detective drama, where the main character, police detective Kurt Wallander (as played by Kenneth Branagh), is a middle-aged, quite sad character. Branagh portrays Wallander quite humanly, using subtleties and the character's general down-faced mood and thinking to lead the way. The cinematography leaves the Swedish equivalent in the dust, and the direction is tight; as previously stated, this is simply put how I think the series should be done. True, the pronounciation of some words (e.g. "Ystad" like "Gstaad") strike me as interesting and funny, but there are such crisp, subtle clarities left everywhere in this that point to what is so intricately Swedish in some ways, e.g. the bag-in-box phenomenon - as Swedes often purchase their wine in a 3-liter box rather than in a bottle - that leaves any weird ways of saying words in the attic of one's mind. On the characters, I don't think there are any real archetypical edges visible, but rather an assortment of humans who struggle with their personal lives as well as their professional roles. Hence, I feel they become more interesting as the film goes on, even if the progression is slight. All in all, I recommend this series and will most definitely check out the other ones. The Swedish film industry, are you taking notes? You should well be.
Vicious Killer
Kenneth Branagh is a sort of tortured soul. Much like Jack Frost in "A Touch of Frost." His life is at its lowest ebb, as he has lost his wife, his daughter is a mess, and his father is suffering from Alzheimer's. This is when the job takes over, giving this man something he can control, and even that is difficult to do because, after all, criminals aren't easy to capture. This is a really harsh case, as people are being axed and then scalped. There is also the element of sex trafficking. The victims significant others are hardly forthcoming because they are also victims themselves. The episode starts with a ghastly scene as a fifteen-year-old girl immolates herself in a farm field as Wallander tries to talk to her. He blames himself because he identified himself as a police officer. Things get very personal as he tries to balance his calm demeanor versus the horrors and evasiveness of those involved in his interrogations. This is a nicely structured episode and, of course, Branagh is an outstanding actor.
Excellent English version. Prefer the Swedish.
Yeah as I read thru all the reviews it seems like most prefer the KH Swedish versions. Nice slow pacing lots of understated acting. Kenneth B is great....it is kinda a great treat to have 3 different versions of Wallander ...I even like the earlier Rolf ones....bought a code free player to watch em. Kenneth B is of course very intense...really great being Kurt. All supporting cast were excellent also. Even the country side shots even though somewhat bleak....in all versions ...are just so Rich...makes me want to go visit .... I do suggest you at some point read the books, I have read them all, and take a look at the earlier ones, perhaps ignoring the guy who thinks Yellow Bird has something to learn from UK ...reading that ?.part of me still wonders if it is satirical?
Wonderfully written, powerful and captivating
I don't normally review Television series but Wallander is really more of self contained films since each episode is basically feature length. I had several people tell me I had to check this out. I am a huge fan of the Girl with The Dragon Tattoo films (Swedish and American) and also a recent Swedish film called Headhunters. Wallander is meticulously made and well crafted. When I first started watching it...about fifteen minutes in I thought, oh man I don't know if I'm in the right mood for them and contemplated shutting it off. Well within a few more minutes it had won me over and locked me into the story from beginning to end. Sidetracked was just eerie and gritty and so well put together. The pacing is a little slow at times and certainly it spends a lot of time establishing Kurt Wallander as a character. There is nothing wrong with this per se except that it interrupts the flow of the mystery a little bit while he interacts with his family and establishes who he is as a person. If this were one single movie, then that would seem completely out of place but they are setting it up for a series so I understand it. The multi-talented and versatile Kenneth Branagh is our lead character. I am not familiar with Wallander as a character but to me Branagh does a terrific job. He's very subtle and dark and has a brooding side to him that makes him interesting. At first the character seems a little empty but then as you learn more about him you understand his personality. There is no denying Branagh's chemistry on screen. Though she gets top billing beside Branagh Sarah Smart has a very small role in this instalment. I thought the chemistry between her and Branagh was interesting and I wanted to see more of them so I hope she becomes more of a main player. A stand out supporting role from David Warner as Wallander's father. He really is excellent in his role and I hope to see more from him in the future episodes. Jeany Spark is good as his daughter though doesn't get a lot of screen time much like Smart. Michael Culver is appropriately creepy as the mysterious Sandin and key to the entire investigation. And the Fredman family are all very good in their roles played respectively by Per Lundström, Rebecca Ferguson, Sophie Stanton and Jamie Nilsson. As with any good Swedish based film the cinematography is excellent. There is always something beautiful but bleak about the landscape and the world they live in. Director Philip Martin has a good handle on the characters and the story and the setting. I hate to compare every Swedish set film to the Millennium trilogy but this one shares a lot of the same style and feel without being quite as dark and twisted. Wallander is also very formulaic bringing nothing particularly new to the "detective mystery" genre. Murder, investigate, interrogate, murder, repeat, breakthrough...solve. Add in some details about Wallander's character and you have a very watchable beginning to a captivating mystery series. I know I will tune in to the next piece of the Wallander tale. 8/10
An excellent beginning for Branagh's interpretation of Wallander.
Kurt Wallander witnesses the harrowing scene of a girl setting herself alight in front of him. Not long after his investigation into the events of her death he's called to the murder of a Government minister, and soon after a wealthy businessman. The question with this first episode was always going to be 'how does it compare to the Swedish version?' the answer to that I'd say is particularly well, so often you watch a beautifully produced slick drama which contains zero substance, here though Branagh is able to inject something special into his performance. There is a harshness to each of the killings, and also a sense of consequences to the crimes. Beautifully acted by everyone, Branagh naturally stands out as the enigmatic lead, but David Warner was sensational as his troubled father. I'm sure many were surprised at just how good this was, I thought it was excellent. 9/10