AniInterview
Sorry, this movie sucks
Lucybespro
It is a performances centric movie
Tacticalin
An absolute waste of money
Roy Hart
If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.
mes7
Having just finished watching all 7 chapters on DVD I must say this is the best drama of any kind I have seen. Overall it was so good I will miss watching it ! I have seen a great deal of Dame Helen Mirren's work and have enjoyed and marveled at her versatility and choice of roles. In the Prime Suspect character of Jane Tennison she has out done herself in my humble opinion. The stories touch on so many realms of police drama and were excellent stories in themselves. What I enjoyed most was the complexity of the character of Jane Tennison throughout the entire series. She was brilliant yet flawed, focused yet distracted, driven yet not particularly ambitious. She had a job to do and she did it very well despite roadblocks put up at every turn within the department, society or political higher ups. Unlike many a series in the US, the Final Act was I thought a great finish to a great series. Yes I would love to know where retirement led her. It is hard to see Jane Tennison spending her final years relaxing on the beach somewhere. It did though answer questions from earlier on and showed what a great toll her drive and dedication took on her personal life. I know some have said the conclusion did not live up to the standards of some of the earlier chapters. I have to disagree. I thought the story line itself was good and a very fitting retirement for an extraordinary character who could only have been played by Helen Mirren. For anyone who watched the Soprano's for so long to see how they chose to end it they will understand why I thought Prime Suspect was excellent not just chapters 1-6 but 1-7 ! Too bad Hollywood can't come up with something as original and gritty as Prime Suspect and follow it through instead of just doing knock offs of other programs ! The closest we have come was the 5 seasons of The Wire and it was a job well done for American TV. No single character will ever touch Jane Tennison though ! Although without the outstanding cast, writers,producers and everyone else involved It wouldn't have been the same either. Congratulations to one and all for a job very well done !
dcdcosta
"The Final Act" is the splendid concluding episode of a (generally) gripping series. As in the very best crime dramas, the focus really isn't the plot or the "whodunnit?" but the character of the central players. And if Helen Mirren almost eclipses them, that's only a bonus for the viewer. The tension is generated not by the crime plot (which is serviceable but predictable) but from Mirren's gripping portrayal of the powerful and all-too-human Jane Tennyson who treads the tightrope of her final days in her career. She somehow manages to give us a woman who balances the angels and the devils in her character without once lapsing into the predictable or the incredible. And THAT's what keeps you leaning forward in your seat.God, but she's good!
paul2001sw-1
The original 'Prime Suspect', an unusually tough police procedural thriller, was a landmark in early 1990s television, immediately making other hits series like 'Inspector Morse' appear tired and out-of-date. Since then, the series has retained some quality through its relatively infrequent outings, but still, the writing has not always been as good as in the first episode and in some cases has lapsed into the melodramatic cliché of the standard crime show. Gradually, I lost interest (I think about the fifth time that the whole direction of central character Jayne Tennyson's life was on the line if she didn't solve some murder in the face of the scepticism of her colleagues). But the series has always featured great acting from the incomparable Helen Mirren in that role, and in this final part she has arguably never been finer, there is some longer-term narrative development from the earlier episodes and Mirren exploits the character's growing history as the basis for a harrowing, wholly three-dimensional performance that almost seems out of place in a crime drama. Behind her performance, there's a nicely executed but less extraordinary tale of murder that could have come from any other cop show.What's amazing about Mirren is how she truly inhabits the parts she plays: having recently seen her in Channel Four's 'Elizabeth', one can say the two series constitute a masterclass of televisual acting, ancient and modern. The series may be done; but the prime of Helen Mirren is far from over.
wolfmann-1
Absolutely brilliant, not just the acting and the plot - but the beautiful camera work. This really did engage me emotionally.The acting of the girl Penny was very believable not something that is always the case with British child actors.Mirren, as per usual, showed incredible talent to plumb the emotional depths of D.I. Tennison. Such a complex character , with so many faults, it is a character made for good TV drama.My only comment of criticism would be that I find it hard to believe that the headmaster (Tompkinson) confesses to having sex with one of his fourteen year old pupils and is then allowed to walk free?A great shame that this is the end of the era. I will really miss it.