Tag Archives: Mads Mikkelsen

Hannibal – blimey.

I think I’d wander into the spurious were I to declare Hannibal the best TV show ever made, but for its sheer entertaining unpredictability, the majesty of its visuals, and the simply captivating Mads Mikkelsen, it’s up there and not quite such a ludicrous statement.

In many a show I have moaned like a wee bitch about constant switching allegiances and a deus ex machina chucked in the mix every other episode, but with Hannibal it’s like this from the off so never feels desperate. You’re living in a world of absolute loons here and it’s a perverse pleasure to be exposed to the nether regions of the human experience.

It’s as flawlessly engrossing as anything I can think of in recent years, and even the dialogue exchanges are cutting edge; I found myself googling just exactly what the fuck the characters are alluding to in their psychobabble exchanges, but it’s never pretentious in the way they do it. The show defines world-building.

What a treat.

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Another Round (2020).

Mads Mikkelsen should be in everything. Really, he should. Because he is awesome. His ending here (no spoilers) seemingly comes out of nowhere but the booze-infused Kelly/Donen … ripple was signposted all along.

This has a genuinely intriguing opening and the movie never lets up in its unpredictability. The four-character ensemble, lost in a listlessness of their own making, take an unorthodox and ludicrous premise and roll with it. Of chief concern here is the fun of the Devil’s buttermilk – teachers giddying around in a desperate attempt to recapturing a lost stage of development – but also the Dark Side. And it gets very dark, booze an outlet for a deeper malaise. 

The best tragicomedy I’ve seen in ages.

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Arctic (2018) is your proper minimalist survival thriller.

Arctic

I was mightily impressed with this, and it’s most refreshing to watch a flick without a one-liner or a wooden numpty in a cape. No pointless dialogue, no heavy exposition, no pretensions; just life-and-death struggle in a daunting environment, and Mads Mikkelsen’s terrifyingly alluring cheekbones. What a strange occurrence those things are.

The movie reminded me of The Grey (2011) with Liam Neeson, except this one without a sadistic pack of looney wolves.

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