Levande begravd 

In a playground in the middle of urban idyll found a buried wooden box containing a known and respected prosecutor. Beck & co suspect first a rough criminal MC-leader of the deed, but you ... See full summary »

Director:

Harald Hamrell

Writers:

Cilla Börjlind (story), Rolf Börjlind (story)

Stars:

Peter Haber, Mikael Persbrandt, Måns Nathanaelson

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Haber	...	Martin Beck
Mikael Persbrandt	...	Gunvald Larsson
Måns Nathanaelson	...	Oskar Bergman
Stina Rautelin	...	Lena Klingström
Rebecka Hemse	...	Inger Beck
Ingvar Hirdwall	...	Grannen
Peter Hüttner	...	Oljelund
Bo Höglund	...	Kypare Mats
Frederik Nilsson	...	Marcus Engmark
Fredrik Hammar	...	Tommy Jansson
Emil Almén	...	Gestalten
Josef Säterhagen	...	Peter Lind
Camilla Larsson	...	Anna Jonsson, rättsläkare
Jessica Zandén	...	Annika Runfelt
Peter Järn	...	Matte Larsson

Storyline

In a playground in the middle of urban idyll found a buried wooden box containing a known and respected prosecutor. Beck & co suspect first a rough criminal MC-leader of the deed, but you can quickly re-evaluate the case when the MC-leader is found murdered in a similar wooden box. Pretty soon discovered a number of wooden boxes and the police realize that you are in a cat and mouse game with a crazy serial killer.

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Plot Keywords:

actor playing himself | real tv show shown in fictional situation | neighbor | sulfuric acid | coffin | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

27 December 2009 (Germany)

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,301,617

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Both episodes of season 4 were released theatrically.

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Connections

References Efterlyst (1991)

User Reviews

Generally good, but not at the level of many Swedish and Danish counterparts

/refers to all episodes of 4 seasons/

Scandinavian crime series are a kind of quality sign for those fond of "old-fashioned" thrillers, without constant chases, explosions and vain cops spreading "witty" remarks even in dangerous situations. Thus, it is no wonder that such films and more popular in Europe and/or among older generations. Sweden has provided dozens of smart police figures, both male and female, and Martin Beck is definitely among the best known.

Unlike in earlier feature films, the series uses the main characters only, scripts are new and Beck and his fellows act in modern world, with technology available giving more "contemporary" feeling. Nevertheless, the issues are still the same as with "original" Beck, with the exception of cross-border crimes spread after the fall of Iron Curtain and wars in the Balkans.

As for the cast, the finest performance is made by Mikael Persbrandt as Gunvald Larsson, whose arrogance and straightforwardness is catchier to watch than Beck's various struggles (well, I like Peter Haber more than Gösta Ekman), apart from the latter's strange dialogues with his neighbour Valdemar, so different from the average mood throughout the series. I can assume that for many viewers they just add unnecessary length to the episodes - around 90 minutes is too long indeed bearing in mind 34 episodes on air every week. At times the tensions fade and events get blurred, and lateral issues (by Gunvald, in particular) make it all too confusing.

Although each episode deals with separate case, it is still advisable to watch them sequentially as there are several flashbacks and references to the past, co-policemen come and go etc. The most interesting episodes to me deal with greed/money, criminals with mental issues are not so fascinating as they are generally imputable.

Decent series, but still less sophisticated than e.g. Wallander or Falk or Bron/Broen.