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There's nothing new about this new set of Above Suspicion episodes, but it will enthrall mystery fans all the same....
Acorn Media / 138 Minutes / 2010 / Unrated / Street Date: February 5, 2013
I have decided: it's time for Ciaran Hinds to be a really big deal. After turning in extraordinary character actor work in There Will Be Blood, the final Harry Potter film, and 2011's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (not to mention his extraordinary turn in Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime), as a viewer I have officially switched my stance from solid approval to official lobbying. This guy needs to be in more stuff.
Hinds proves this charm and doltish bravura in Above Suspicion: Set 2, the British television import that on its own regards is absolutely nothing more than another retread of the same old crime drama we've all seen a trillion times, but thanks to Hinds it ends up being entirely passable as a boob tube experience. Presented here not as fully episodic series, but as one standalone longform telefilm, it's unfortunate that right off the bat the crime drama cliche is absolutely deafening.
There is dramatic and romantic tension between James Langton (Hinds) and Anna Travis (Kelly Reilly), the trail toward a drug dealer involved with a personal friend of Langton's becomes trickier and trickier (hint: plastic surgery is involved...), and there's even the issue of a new drug this murdering jerk concocted that affects our detectives very streets. It's not particularly nuanced or unique in any fashion, but even if Above Suspicion: Set 2 is a paint-by-numbers affair, it absolutely gets the job done anyway.
Next stop: Ciaran Hinds' Oscar. Who's with me?