The Postcard Killings (2020)

Generally I like these crime-dramas, which I is why I also watched CSI and Criminal Minds when they were on. However, this adaptation of the James Patterson/Liza Marklund novel has some editing problems and sloppy dialogue. There were a couple okay scenes that did surprise, otherwise it kind of plods along at a slow pace. If not for Jeffrey Dean Morgan, this would've been tough to sit through. **2.75/5**

Big fan of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, but this isn't a good film.

<em>'The Postcard Killings'</em> should be full to the brim with vigour and vitality as the plot involves a mystery that takes the characters across Europe. Unfortunately, it's extremely dull from start to finish. It's not anything necessarily terrible, it's just the uneventful feel to things hampers this 2020 release hard.

Morgan gives a solid performance, though I kinda wanted more from him - at times he kinda felt miscast, if I'm honest. I'm not fully sure if that's the case or not though. The support cast are fine if forgettable, the minor standout behind Morgan is Naomi Battrick; who I recall seeing in a few early episodes of television show <em>'<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown_(TV_series)" rel="nofollow">Jamestown</a>'</em>, which I found to be equally as uninteresting as this.

This needed a quicker pace and more action, without that it's a disappointment.

When a young girl is murdered on her honeymoon, her devastated detective dad "Kanon" (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) joins in the investigation. It doesn't take long for him to discover - with the aid of Swedish journalist "Dessie" (Cush Jumbo) - that this is not an unique crime, even though the perpetrator leaves the bodies as if they were features in a famous work of art. Meantime, the young Naomi Battrick and Ruairi O'Connor are travelling thorough Europe on a train when they encounter the burly, tattooed "Pieter" (Dylan Devonald-Smith). Might they be in the same danger? The story has quite a few twists and turns, and were it in better hands with a better cast then it might have been, well, better... As it is, though, the more interesting aspects of the plot are seriously undercooked; it takes far too long for us to get going and the quality of the acting and the dialogue - pretty much across the board - is nothing special. Some nice scenery, I suppose, but despite his tragedy I just couldn't warm to "Kanon" nor to his underused wife "Valerie" (Famke Janssen). It's a standard television movie that passes the time, but nothing more.

**When the main problem is knowing too much too soon...**

Serial killers will always be fodder for movies, good and bad. It's not worth quoting examples, anyone reading this has probably seen at least ten movies about serial killers. This is one more, based on original Scandinavian material that I've never seen, but I'd like to see it, and I'll try to find it. Honestly, I hope it's better than the movie I just saw...

The film is not bad. Don't get me wrong. It has a good base premise: murders that imitate famous works of art all over Europe, with the father of one of the victims desperately trying to catch the culprit. But it's not at all original, it does the same things that we're tired of seeing in established films, and it doesn't manage to go beyond the usual recipe to offer us something that makes it stand out. And there is a huge problem that partially ruins the film: we discover the identity of those who are killing people too soon and, from there, it is only worth watching the film to see how the police will hunt down their target.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a very solid and competent protagonist, able to commit himself and give the character the consistency and anguish that it demands. Undoubtedly, the actor's performance is a bonus in the film. Despite being heavily criticized, I think Famke Janssen wasn't that bad. She does have depressing moments and sometimes goes overboard, but she gives us a relatively satisfying job, and doesn't have many opportunities to really fail. Joachim Krol seems to be out of place and lost. Naomi Battrick is quite good, taking into account that she is not a frontline actress and has handled a character who demands a certain charisma and attitude; Ruairi O’Connor, honestly, cannot say he is happy, he erases himself even in scenes where he is more visible.

Technically, it's a regular film without great merits, but it doesn't fail too much either: the European settings and landscapes, always pleasant no matter how commonplace they may be, are joined by standard cinematography and ordinary work on the costumes. Some well-crafted effects and a lukewarm soundtrack make for a cohesive and functional, if forgettable, whole.