Falcon (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Main Menu Audio Featurette-Behind The Scenes-3
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	172:31
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Gabriel Range Pete Travis
Studio Distributor	ITVS Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Paul Leonard-Morgan

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    This is now a third recent British production with similar traits. All three have been detective series, based on novels, produced in English but set and filmed in various parts of Europe, giving them a very different feel to other English programs. I am referring to Wallander , Zen and this show, Falcon. There are also similarities between the lead characters, all being detectives but also all being affected somewhat by their work. There are obvious parallels between Wallander and Falcon especially in this regard, as they are quite tortured and troubled, which is exacerbated by the cases they investigate.

    The lead detective here is Javier Falcon (Marton Csokas), an Inspector Jete (or Chief Inspector) in the homicide squad of the Seville Police force in Spain. He is cold and clinical, recently divorced after only two years and a difficult man to like but easy for his team to respect. This series of two telemovies are based on the first two novels of a series by Robert Wilson, an England born author who lives in Portugal. The two stories are related so you definitely should watch episode 1 before episode 2. In the first episode, Falcon is called in to investigate the brutal murder of a rich businessman, Carlos Jiminez. As he investigates with his offsider, Jose Luis Ramirez (Charlie Creed-Miles) he realises that the case has links to his own family history. What the case reveals will rock him to his core. To reveal more would spoil the story.

    The second episode, follows the aftermath of the first case, three months later but also introduces a new mystery involving another brutal murder.

    Other characters involved include the young second wife of Jiminez, Consuelo (Hayley Atwell) and a friend of Falcon's father, Ramon Salgado (Bernard Hill), an art dealer. Falcon's father was a famous artist, well know throughout Spain. Other actors who appear in these episodes include Alexander Siddig, Rosie Perez & Robert Lindsay.

    These are a quality couple of mystery telemovies which have been shown locally on pay TV. They have an interesting central character, who is in an even darker place in his life than Kurt Wallander. The show is also dark and gritty, deserving its MA15+ rating due to explicit gory violence and sex scenes. The acting is generally good, with Marton Csokas particularly effective playing the troubled and cold detective. My only criticism is that I felt the stories were complex enough to deserve more running time, perhaps over a longer mini-series. The look of the shows, like Zen & Wallander, really highlight their different location with the yellows and reds of Seville really being strongly part of the atmosphere.

    Recommended but not for those who cannot handle gory violence.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.

    The picture was very clear and sharp throughout.The shadow detail was very good.

    The colour was excellent with no issues to report. As I mentioned above the yellows and reds of Seville are well used and look great, along with a lot of sunset and sunrise photography.

    There was some motion blur, a little aliasing and some light colour bleeding.

    There are subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired which are clear and easy to read.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is decent.

    This set contains English soundtracks in Dolby Digital 2.0.

    Dialogue was somewhat muffled and the subtitles were useful throughout to ensure picking up the dialogue.

    The music sounds great and features Spanish guitar along with atmospheric piano music.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

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Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu included music.

Behind the Scenes (16:06)

    This is a making of featurette which includes the cast and crew discussing the show along with the novelist. They cover characters, story, casting, shooting, the use of light and Seville. Not bad.

Behind the Man (5:17)

    Featurette focused on the character of Javier Falcon including casting and Csokas' approach to playing him.

Robert Wilson Location Tour (8:42)

    The author takes us on a tour of Seville showing us the various locations from the novels which are used in the series. Quite interesting.

    This set is available in the UK in the same format but not in Region 1. Buy local.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is decent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall