Murderland (2009) User Reviews

Creepy

[cahisi · 8/10 · 13 December 2012]

Always found Robbie Coltrane to be appealing (although I hate hate HATE his Hagrid...) - in this, he is superb. A story about a girl who finds her mother murdered, who may have seen her killer, and who becomes a resident of "Murderland" - a place where children, especially, go in their minds - obsessing about the murder of a loved one and trying to solve it.

Carrie is about 14 when the story begins, and you see her in the second and third installments as a young woman, perhaps 18-20 (now named Carol). Portrayal of both girls is done well, particularly young Carrie. Her relationship with Douglas (Coltrane) is compelling, touching, and terribly vulnerable to suspicion and distress.

It's a story that is constructed rather oddly - lots and lots of flashbacks, often very similar to each other but with slightly varied details. It can be hard to keep track of everyone involved, but this for me just added to the creepiness - it feels like one might feel at 14 with a shattered world - nothing but memory as familiar.

The ending and resolution is similarly muddy - but a significant break in the case (brought on by the baddies themselves, aha!) leads to a rather shocking showdown. If you're into crime drama and creepy murder mysteries, this is probably something you'd enjoy!!

A lot of rehash... but good vehicle for Robbie Coltrane...

[canuckteach · 7/10 · 4 May 2020]

Robbie Coltrane has never made a poor murder mystery. This one is guilty of overplaying the flashback tool, going to the present with the daughter of the murdered party-girl mom, and then returning to the past too frequently. Nonetheless, the film is a gripping whodunit with plenty of twists n turns. Grim, at times.

Overall, I would rate it 8/10. Final note-the version on Amazon Prime apparently combined a few episodes of a series into a movie (might explain some of editing problems)... but, on the bright side, we detected none of the profanity listed in the PG-content. There was one brief scene of sensuality to fast forward.

Pretty good

[Headturner1 · 7/10 · 1 August 2020]

Running out of things to watch I decided to give this a try last night. I really liked the young Carol ( kept me watching) the older version was good but as a child dhe had such a big personality and the adult one didn't though she reminded me of Suranne Jones whom I love. I noticed a few of the actors from other UK series too. I found it a decent watch. Kept me interested throughout and there's not a lot of episodes to invest in. I give it a thumbs up.

Enjoyable

[hazangel-89910 · 8/10 · 31 January 2024]

This mini-series/movie was quite enjoyable. I understand a young girl obsessed with finding her mother's killer. Most people may react the same way especially at that age. She was a pre-teen not a toddler.

What I dont understand is that no one saw the mother and Hain together. They were not exactly sneaking around. He is a very recognizable person (due to his size). Surely many people spotted him entering her house or them casually sitting in a car. Hain has a nerve saying he loved Sally but he had no problem punching her in the face due to his jealousy!!! Real cool!! Men like that are very insecure and probably would not be a very good long term partner...but I digress.... Perhaps the ending was his karma..

The killer was a little too obvious but still the story unfolded quite well.

The young Carrie is the most annoying character EVER

[sunnydale2004 · 2/10 · 4 February 2024]

The storyline was good but the character of young Carrie was supposed to be 14 she acted like a spoiled toddler. The squealing, the irrational behavior complete entitled brat. That made this extremely hard to get through this mini series. It was like she was going for an award for the most over acted part in history. The older Carrie is a wonderful actress I adore her and everything she's been in. This would have actually been a decent mini series had it not been for the distraction of the over the top 14 year old. I've never in real life seen a 14 year old act that way. It's like the director had no idea how a 14 year old girl should behave regardless of the circumstances behind the story. I gave the rating a 2 for the other wonderful actors involved I would haven't given 0 if I could.

a generous 4 (2 out of 5) star- flawed plot

[braquecubism · 4/10 · 6 October 2019]

I wrote a detailed explanation of what was wrong- complete spoilers and it's not showing. I won't take the time to rewrite- so no spoilers. the idea of the 3 views, of the same incidents, and as they unfold, more is revealed each time, is a sound one. (Rashoman) Robbie, and the younger & older Carrie/Carol, the murdered mother, are very good. But there is a tipping point, when it goes from credible to implausible. Seems it was shown in 3 episodes, new on Amazon, it's one movie. Everything is revealed in the last 20 minutes, with absurd plot points. Introducing things that were completely hidden in the beginning. Carol (the Character) acting in an unbelievable manner, comes across a perpetrator/witness who tells all. and as the thread is pulled, it all unravels. the end, what happened. Is it worth the journey, depends on your viewpoint on entertainment.

Wherefore art thou, Robbie?

[frieda-92366 · 2/10 · 4 February 2024]

Ordinarily I love Robbie Coltrane. He looked (and was) way too old and used up for this part. I think they chose a big name like his because the writing was so bad, and an actor of his caliber might make it watchable. But it didn't happen. Before the 3-parter was half over it was already obvious who the killer was. The red herrings were sickly pink and rotting by that time. I can see where maybe the book was okay. The basic idea was okay. But the execution of script, filming, timing, flashbacking was absolutely terrible. The whole middle episode could have been deleted and not lost a beat. They basically just retold the first episode in the second one, same scenes rehashed. Then the third episode crash-landed (you'll see what I mean) into a 5-second revelation of what happened. Following that, nonsensical stupidity and gratuitous death. But it was a relief to get it all over with and go to bed. Not even anything that might keep me from getting a good night's sleep.