The Postcard Killings

Generally I like these crime-dramas, which I is why I also watched CSI and Criminal Minds when they were on. However, this adaptation of the James Patterson/Liza Marklund novel has some editing problems and sloppy dialogue. There were a couple okay scenes that did surprise, otherwise it kind of plods along at a slow pace. If not for Jeffrey Dean Morgan, this would've been tough to sit through. **2.75/5**

Big fan of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, but this isn't a good film. <em>'The Postcard Killings'</em> should be full to the brim with vigour and vitality as the plot involves a mystery that takes the characters across Europe. Unfortunately, it's extremely dull from start to finish. It's not anything necessarily terrible, it's just the uneventful feel to things hampers this 2020 release hard. Morgan gives a solid performance, though I kinda wanted more from him - at times he kinda felt miscast, if I'm honest. I'm not fully sure if that's the case or not though. The support cast are fine if forgettable, the minor standout behind Morgan is Naomi Battrick; who I recall seeing in a few early episodes of television show <em>'<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown_(TV_series)" rel="nofollow">Jamestown</a>'</em>, which I found to be equally as uninteresting as this. This needed a quicker pace and more action, without that it's a disappointment.

When a young girl is murdered on her honeymoon, her devastated detective dad "Kanon" (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) joins in the investigation. It doesn't take long for him to discover - with the aid of Swedish journalist "Dessie" (Cush Jumbo) - that this is not an unique crime, even though the perpetrator leaves the bodies as if they were features in a famous work of art. Meantime, the young Naomi Battrick and Ruairi O'Connor are travelling thorough Europe on a train when they encounter the burly, tattooed "Pieter" (Dylan Devonald-Smith). Might they be in the same danger? The story has quite a few twists and turns, and were it in better hands with a better cast then it might have been, well, better... As it is, though, the more interesting aspects of the plot are seriously undercooked; it takes far too long for us to get going and the quality of the acting and the dialogue - pretty much across the board - is nothing special. Some nice scenery, I suppose, but despite his tragedy I just couldn't warm to "Kanon" nor to his underused wife "Valerie" (Famke Janssen). It's a standard television movie that passes the time, but nothing more.