Fallen Angel (2007/British Mystery TV/Acorn Media DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: C+
Charles
Dance heads the cast in murder mystery mini-series Fallen Angel, an ambitious, troubled, problematic character study
of a psychopathic woman (Emilia Fox as Angel Wharton) and her obsession with
kidnapping children. There is a separate
pedophile involved and the four parts are so all over the place, it just cannot
stop the child-in-jeopardy syndrome that we have seen one too many times.
Dance is
a great actor who can hold his own in genre work (Alien 3, For Your Eyes Only)
and is really good here; one of the reasons I was able to sit through this in
the first place. Though Peter Ramsley’s
adaptations of the Andrew Taylor novels is very literate and takes itself
seriously without any formula, it still runs into the many problems associated
with child exploitation in fiction. It
is just too easy to put a child in jeopardy and the study of the killer almost
makes her too sympathetic in ways that are more bad than creepy. Now you can see for yourself, but brace
yourself for graphic treatment of said material.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a little on the weak side in detail
and depth, even including the way it is stylized. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo can be a bit
unbalanced and has limited surrounds if any.
Note how much louder the music can be than the dialogue. The only extra is a 47-minutes
behind-the-scenes special.
- Nicholas Sheffo
