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In this latest TV-on-DVD edition of the hit Law & Order spinoff, it's exit Vincent D'Onofrio, enter Jeff Goldblum....
Shout! Factory / 690 Minutes / 2009 / Unrated / Street Date: October 23, 2012
With conveyor-belt consistency, the Law & Order universe continues to offer up more and more material - there's so much of it out there at this point that it's patently ridiculous. But even though Law & Order - Criminal Intent: The Eighth Year is perhaps a slight step down in quality from its immediate predecessors, there's no denying that it's understandable why there continues to be such a rabid audience for this type of programming.
It's clear that Vincent D'Onofrio is done with the show here - he ended up leaving L&O: CI after this eighth season aired: the wolf-like fire in the belly that he manifested in earlier seasons is a whimper of what it once was here. Sure, the other cast members here pull up the slack a bit - Kathryn Erbe is still a powerhouse, and even though it's initially a strange match, Jeff Goldblum ends up bringing a winking slyness to his character on this Eighth Year set. Is this the show at its best? Of course not. But L&O knows that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and that edict rings true all the way through this edition.
So, does one need to rush out and purchase a TV-on-DVD set like this one right away when a cursory search of your cable listings will likely drum up twenty or more Law & Order reruns in one capacity or another? No, probably not. But even operating under less-than-brilliant overall creative consistency, this batch of Criminal Intent never let me down. Though without D'Onofrio, it may have a tough road ahead....