Director Mikkel Nørgaard teamed up again with Nikolaj Lie Kaas & Fares Fares to adapt the second volume of Jussi Alder-Olsen Department Q book series.

Premise: In The Keeper of Lost Causes / Mercy we were introduced to detective Carl Mørck,  a deeply flawed, brilliant detective newly assigned to run Department Q, the home of Copenhagen’s coldest cases. This time around the case is about, a brother and sister who were brutally murdered two decades earlier, and one of the suspects—part of a group of privileged boarding-school students—confessed and was convicted. But once Mørck and his assistant Assad reopen the files, it becomes clear that all is not what it seems.

Review:  Straight off the bat, one of thing that I love about this film, is that it’s as much of a stand alone movie as the sequel to The Keeper of Lost Causes / Mercy. The two films are connected but they’re about two completely separate cases on which only the investigating team remains. It’s kind of like what a Tv-Show like Sherlock, for example, if Sherlock was a graphic dark thriller.

Much like the first one, Detective Mørck & Assad are the heart of the movie. It’s an odd pairing but they’re somehow captivating, they keep you focused in the movie despite the less than original plot on this one. You probably already figured out what it’s all about by reading the premise but the story works and It has to do with the investigating team. You get attached to them – more so if you’ve seen the first film – and you want to see this case through.

The sequel to The Keeper of Lost Causes / Mercy is a good film, with a predictable story, but it’s intriguing, attention-grabbing, and so uninhibited that this classical, run of the mill, thriller feels very fresh.  

The Absent One / Disgrace / Fasandræberne have you seen it? Read it? What did you think about it?