Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter - The Red Wolf
Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter - The Red Wolf
| 01 August 2012 (USA)
Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter - The Red Wolf Trailers

The Swedish tabloid Kvällspressen has set their crime reporter, Annika Bengtzon, to monitor a complex murder case. The victim is a colleague and the only witness is a 15-year-old boy. Bengtzons inquiries may be an unexpected turn when the tracks leading to a 40 year attack on an airbase.

Reviews
Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!
Tacticalin An absolute waste of money
Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
cliffmacdev It's really an excellent series with great flow and pacing. Tense and gritty. Only Malin Crépin is simply too distracting. It's enough having to read the subtitles, without being distracted by this ridiculously beautiful woman. I think casting should consider that males although evolved with some ability to control themselves, might be viewers and maybe unable to control biology. She is an excellent actress but detracts from the sheer quality of the show, with her looks. The story lines are superb and the scenery is brilliant. It has great atmosphere as well. I like the fact that even such a stunning woman, can have marital problems. Her problems balancing work and children resonates as well.
ndk53 I looked in here to get some clarification about the time line of the Red Wolf episode. In the office Annika was talking to Berit, one of the other reporters who was apparently an old-time lefty. Berit mentions she and a woman on the TV, perhaps the minister of culture, protested the Vietnam war together. But both the actress who plays Berit and the one who is the culture minister are too young to have been protesting the Vietnam war. The actress was ten years old in 1972, the last big year for protests.In another episode Annika recalls being nearly raped as a young girl. This is an unfortunate cliché, as it seems so many female detectives are survivors of rape. Most male detectives (on US TV at least) on the other hand are not only war veterans but also combat veterans. Both are unimaginative attempts to layer world-weariness onto characters who more likely have led ordinary comfortable suburban lives. I noticed in particular in TV series the Vietnam-vet trope was really stretched, giving detectives war cred who were too young to have been there. There was a period where it finally became too implausible, with detectives in their 30s, in the 1990s, being Vietnam vets, so they started making them be veterans of Grenada (!), and even Panama. Then the first Gulf War came along, and they could be veterans of that at least, even though it was a very brief war. Now with Iraq and Afghanistan police depts will be well stocked with the necessary gravitas that only combat experience can provide, for many years to come.The home life seems a cliché and predictable--the kids are tacked on. Would anyone notice if they were different from one episode to the next? You'd think the perennially put-upon spouse would have resigned himself to her schedule after all these years. And Annika's newsroom, with its "stop the presses"-type reporting seems an anachronism. No layoffs in this place! The gruff suspender-wearing editor is a pale copy of J. Jonah Jameson from the Spiderman comics of an earlier era.Still, I enjoy the show because the cinematography is beautiful, and it's nice to see the ridiculously glamorous Malin Crepin poking around in various interesting locations in Sweden, which we in the US don't often get to see.
Alfia Wallace As a woman, it's especially fun to watch this program. Annika is so fearless and yet so believable a character. There's a twist to the usual family dynamic in that Annika is the more workaholic and absent parent and her poor, long-suffering (and extremely hot) husband is often stuck home with the kids, or lying languidly shirtless in bed waiting for her just as she has to go out and investigate a tip. All of the acting is wonderful and the direction very natural. One gets completely sucked into the plot and the pathos. You see how Annika steels herself from being impacted from most of it, and yet some cases really get to her. The Kvallpresse newsroom has its amusing cast of characters, from the tubby, barking and be-jowled news chief, to the lovable and mannish old socialist Berit, to the smarmy young toady Patrik. Some of the crimes are pretty grisly so this series is not suitable for children. I've read reviews elsewhere in which men complain about having to hear about Annika's family life (also with Irene Huss, another Swedish crime solver I love) so this may be more something women and those interested in women's lives would enjoy.
Laura Baker I really enjoyed this series. Luckily, I didn't check out the ratings on IMDb, or I might never have tried it. Well-written, well-acted, and well-directed. I have seen the first six episodes (which seem to be listed separately here). Some are better than others, but all were worth watching. Malin Crepin is a treat to watch, as Annika. The continuing story of her marriage and motherhood make Annika a much fuller character than "reporter." Like the best of series, there is both an episode resolution and continuing character development.If you like Scandinavian TV series like "The Protectors," you'll probably like "Annika Bengtzon." Check it out if you like well-done mysteries. I hope there are more of these shows to come.
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