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| The faces of the two new star police partners hover above an incinerating person on a hospital bed on this dark poster for Martin Zandvliet's Marco Effekten |
Following a shortened down period Danish veteran police investigator Carl Mørch comes back to work. With his investigator partner Assad he follows clues from an unaccompanied minor gypsy boy in custody, which leads to a suspicious pedophile case and development aid in Africa, which has to be revisited.
Marco Effekten is written by Anders Frithiof August (Camping (2009)) and Thomas Porsager (Sjit Happens (2013-16)), adapting the same-titled 2012 novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen (Alfabethuset (1997)) from his Department Q/Afdeling Q crime novel series, and directed by Martin Zandvliet (Applaus/Applause (2009)). The Danish title translates to 'the Marco effect'.
This reboot of the Department Q movie series, with the rights having changed hands from Zentropa to Nordisk Film, attempts what is a very difficult task: Tossing an established and (locally in Denmark) spectacularly popular universe up in the air, just to try to put it all back together successfully again with an entirely new cast.
The new film doesn't feel like a continuation or a match-for-match of the beats that made up the 4 hit Zentropa films. Zandvliet goes for another tone and look, and Ulrich Thomsen (Allegro (2005)) is a different Mørch; less abrasive, more ... Thomsen. The actor is fascinating to look at with his seen-it-all stoic features, but we don't get deep or see development in his character. Even less so for the new Rosa, and not much character background for Assad, either, although Zaki Youssef (Rita (2015, TV-series)) seems solid for the part.
The restrictive script approach, - perhaps out of excessive loyalty or closeness to the protective author Adler-Olsen, who was instrumental in taking the rights from Zentropa for another take on his novels, - is coupled with a restrictive visual concept: The big almost stock shots of the police headquarter from above, other 'flashy' location shots, - but also shots that define character-setting locales such as Mørch's residence, - are scrapped in Marco Effekten. The result is that the film's first hour or so mostly consists of one or more characters in a (mostly dimly lit) room, mostly in a discussion or interview. With the humor, sex appeal, popular star (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and action gone for the film's first hour, it predictably loses many of the fans' support that the filmmakers were hoping for.
The plot, as indicated, is a complicated mess which is never fully illuminated. SPOILER A gypsy boy (the title's Marco) caught up in a murderous debacle about a falsely accused man, later killed, who was alerted to some big money scandal involving development aid and pedophilia in Africa. The particulars as to the meaning of the title is also never defined. It is all in the shadows. This nevertheless works pretty well, because this limited level of knowledge must be presumed to be what Mørch and Assad also can gather at the time of the case, and we can put the bricks together well enough ourselves. Anders Matthesen (Rene Hjerter (2006)) and Caspar Phillipson (Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)) as the film's main villains are also good and clear enough as antagonists.
Marco Effekten fails to reinvigorate the franchise in a way that its fans will appreciate, and so may likely instead put it is in its grave, but it is a good time as a solid, well-made, somewhat misanthropic thriller.
Related posts:
Martin Zandvliet: Teddy Bear/10 Timer til Paradis (2012) - Matthiesen's little gem of intercontinental romance (co-writer)
A Funny Man/Dirch (2011) - Kaas shines in serious biopic of Danish national treasure comedian
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Applause/Applaus (2009) - Paprika Steen's struggling Thea
Previous Department Q franchise entries: Department Q: The Absent One/The Absent One/Fasandræberne (2014) - Nørgaard's second Q movie picks up some slack
Thomsen talks about taking over the role here
Cost: 56 mil. DKK, approximately 9.16 mil. $
Box office: Approximately 11.7 mil. DKK and counting, approximately 1.91 mil. $
= Uncertain - but looking to become a mega-flop, expecting a final gross of around 25 mil DKK/4.09 mil. $
[Marco Effekten was released 27 May (Denmark) and runs 125 minutes. Shooting took place in Denmark and the Czech Republic, including Prague, and was interrupted by the China Virus pandemic. The film has sold 117,736 tickets in just under two weeks release in Denmark, much lower than the previous Department Q entries opened to. The film is set to release in Iceland and Russia on June 16 and 17, respectively. Zandvliet is announced to return as director of US space drama Challenger. Thomsen returns in Ire (2021); Youssef in Wild Men/Vildmænd (2021). 307 IMDb users have given Marco Effekten a 5.2/10 average rating.]
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