JACK TAYLOR: SET 1 (eOne, 2011) creator: Ken Bruen, w/ Iain Glen, Nora-Jane Noone. Rating: NNN DVD package: N Rating: NNN
Character-driven stories with unexpected plot turns and a strong sense of place make Jack Taylor, three loosely linked TV movies about an unlicensed private eye in the Irish city of Galway, solid entertainment for mystery fans.
The first film, The Guards, sees Taylor hired by a woman to find her missing teen daughter. At the same time, too many teen girl suicides are turning up in the river. It’s the weakest of the three, but it establishes 50ish Taylor (Iain Glen) as smart, stubborn and a serious problem drinker. It also gives us a solid look at the city and its citizens.
The second, The Pikemen, ups the ante: masked vigilantes are taking down local crooks while Taylor looks into a boy’s accidental death. A higher action quotient and greater peril for Taylor add tension, and there’s genuine tragedy in the final revelations.
The sense of tragedy widens and deepens in The Magdalen Martyrs, Taylor’s hunt for a sadistic nun whose legacy spans generations and hundreds of blighted lives.
Visually, Jack Taylor is run-of-the-mill TV, and it occasionally stoops to genre clichés, but the acting and writing more than make up for those minor flaws.
EXTRAS Photo gallery. English audio and subtitles.
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