Iain Glen as Jack Taylor is utterly watchable. And it is hard to resist a PI who team of "secret informants" are a selection of the town drunks.
To my North American ears the accents are a bit difficult at times, but that is a mere quibble. I also think these very dark stories should have been filmed in high contrast black and white, but I think all noir stories should be shot that way.
The plots can be a bit far fetched, but Taylor is a compelling character marvelously played.
The major weakness is the dialog. There are no pithy one liners that make Chandler and Hammet so endearing, such as Chandler's line that "It was the type of wind that set housewives to testing the edge of the carving knife as they eyed their husbands' throats....."
To my North American ears the accents are a bit difficult at times, but that is a mere quibble. I also think these very dark stories should have been filmed in high contrast black and white, but I think all noir stories should be shot that way.
The plots can be a bit far fetched, but Taylor is a compelling character marvelously played.
The major weakness is the dialog. There are no pithy one liners that make Chandler and Hammet so endearing, such as Chandler's line that "It was the type of wind that set housewives to testing the edge of the carving knife as they eyed their husbands' throats....."