This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

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.

Excellent adaptation of the book. Great casting. Please do more movies of the Department Q series!

The second movie based on the Department Q's novels is an entertaining affair, but with zero originality and too long to really satisfy.A drunken man jumps into the path of Carl Mørck when he is going home and asks him about some documents he sent him. Carl ignores him and tells the drunken man to go home. A couple of hours later, the man is death, having committed suicide. On a table, a box with lots of information he had been gathering through the years. The man was a retired policeman, and the case he was talking about the death of his two children. Carl Mørck becomes obsessed with finding the truth."The Absent One" is not a bad movie. It has good atmosphere, a nice pace and the acting passes the bar. We will care for Assad and Carl, a couple of policemen with very different personalities that compliment each other (of course). However, the movie relies too much on flashbacks to explain parts of the story and how the events unfolded. On top of that, there is little mystery and the level of tension could have been higher: we have seen too many times the story of straight policemen trying to catch very bad very rich people that have too many friends in the right places. This doesn't stop, though, the movie from being absorbing enough. It will probably be enjoyed the best by fans of the books or the genre.

The actors do a decent job, but Kimmie bothers me a lot! Kimmie do some extreme work to make the plot connect.She KO's Carl with a piece of pipe. thou Carl is aware of the pipe and he is a trained police officer. All right, he is kind of weird, maybe its just a flaw in his character.She KO's the private investigator and escapes him the first time in the train cart. She then overpowers him in his own apartment, even thou he's holding a gun to her head. He is an ex-soldier with multiple combat experiences, but he can't pull the trigger? He cant even hold on to the gun. Come on...Kimmie is then put in jail, but she knocks out a big, male police officer and flees the jail. How Rambo does she have to be, to make her relevant?She is a skinny drug addict and shouldn't be able to do any of this. Besides Kimmie, the plot was rather predictable :(

This is the second film installment that I am aware of in this detective drama, following on from "The Keeper of Lost Causes". At first glance the translated title, "Killer of Pheasants", seems somewhat misleading. In fact, its well chosen. Pheasants demonstrate sexual dimorphism. That is the males are brightly coloured, whilst the females are plain. The wealthy male sexual predators at the heart of this tale, like male pheasants, appear to have everything. They lead bright, shining, seemingly flawless lives. By contrast, their female collaborator turned victim, suffers a bleak life of dispossession, but as we see she is, ultimately, a better human being. Indeed, this story is, arguably, as much about dispossession, as it is a crime story. It speaks to the destructive power of inequality and how money not only does not remedy human flaws but can, in fact, amplify them. Of course, its also a good crime thriller, with many subtle and often oblique, plot shifts. It takes time for all the intricate pieces of the crime puzzle to come together but when they do, its a very satisfying experience. The acting is outstanding. Nikolaj Lie Kaas skillfully reprises his role as Carl Morck. A socially awkward, self destructive but nonetheless brilliant, driven detective. Fares Fares returns as his long suffering but understanding partner, Assad. The comfortable chemistry between these two lead actors makes this film easy viewing. The other cast members, including the key villains of the piece, are well chosen and able actors who fit snugly into their respective roles. For some people, possibly the only shortcoming, may be the sexual violence inherent in the film. If you are of a sensitive disposition you may want to give this film a pass. That said, if you are not perturbed by the violence or the subtitles, this film is a must see. Ten out of ten from me.