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Sarah (7798 KP) rated Line of Duty - Season 1 in TV

Apr 22, 2019 (Updated Apr 22, 2019)  
Line of Duty  - Season 1
Line of Duty - Season 1
2012 | Drama
Deserving of the hype
Over the past few months, one of the shows that I kept getting told to watch is Line of Duty. Nearly everyone I know is raving about this, and despite the fact that they’re all on series 5, I decided to give this a go from the very first series. And for the most part, this is fairly deserving of the hype.

Police dramas have inundated our screens over the past few years, and it’s unusual to find ones that rise above average - Luther is one, and now I think Line of Duty is another. This has at least found a new angle on the police instead of the usual murder mystery, focusing on the Anti Corruption unit. Whilst I’m pretty sure AC isn’t anywhere nearly as interesting in real life (and indeed the real life name of Professional Standards used for the unit by most actual police forces isn’t as catchy either), Line of Duty at least makes this highly entertaining and intriguing. Corruption sounds boring, but in this it really isn’t and is full of twists and turns and reveals throughout the series. It has a great cast too that really helps and isn’t afraid to show a bit of blood and violence. As sad as I am, I also enjoyed the little nods to real police - the modern glass plated buildings and the police lanyards etc - these made this a lot more relatable.

This isn’t perfect though. I sometimes found some of the jumps in storyline confusing and I don’t feel like everything was wrapped up at the end of the series. I also found that the three main AC12 character weren’t very well developed and there could have been more done to show their backgrounds or personal lives. I don’t doubt that this will be expanded in later series, but it would’ve been nice to see it here! I am however very much looking forward to seeing the next few series.
  
Line of Duty  - Season 3
Line of Duty - Season 3
2016 | Drama
Another excellent series
I’m starting to feel like a broken record reviewing Line of Duty, but it really is a highly entertaining and gripping show, and is showing now signs of slowing down.

Without going into spoiler territory, this series (despite not being the last) very much wraps up a number of outstanding storylines carried over from the first to series and it does so in a very satisfying way. A lot of shows would be willing to drag these out but not Line of Duty. Instead they’ve brought all of these storylines to a head in a thrilling and action packed manner. I won’t lie, the storyline was maybe a bit predictable in parts as we as the viewers always know more than the characters themselves, but this didn’t really matter that much as it was just good to enjoy the ride. I do like how the plot also tied into relevant historic cases that are current in the UK at the moment, made it a lot more realistic! My only criticism really is that Daniel May was brilliant, but perhaps a little underused but then when you see how the story pans out, it’s understandable. There are a lot of nasty and unlikeable characters in this, and it’s nice to see them get their comeuppance.
  
Line of Duty (2019)
Line of Duty (2019)
2019 | Action, Thriller
I know a throwaway action film when I see it and they're usually either brilliant films to relax to or a great opportunity to catch up on your social media feeds.

Frank Penny is bumbling through his life as a cop, a loner, disgraced, but he still knows what's right. When an operation to rescue a kidnap victim goes awry he leaps into the pursuit against orders, cornering the suspect it looks like it's a job well done, until he has to draw his gun. With the suspect down there might not be any way to get the girl back safely.

You'd be forgiven for thinking this was a different film from the outset. It starts with heavy inspirational music over Frank working out, is it a sports movie about redemption? A stylised title comes up, is it a romcom? None of the above, it is of course a crime thriller. After the opening that does thankfully become evident.

When we meet characters that would normally be a time for a slightly slower pace, but Line Of Duty seems to keep everything quick from the very beginning and it doesn't slow as we get further in. The constant action sweeps you along with everything and you really don't notice how long you've been watching for.

Aaron Eckhart in the lead role... makes me pause. It works in a John McClane-esque race against time kind of way but the dynamic with Courtney Eaton is strange. The recklessness that he takes by bringing her along with him (if you ignore the madness of doing it in the first place) makes you think it's going to be a flirty kind of relationship, but he's over twice her age and with his backstory you'd expect a protective father figure... but remember there's all that action and peril so that really doesn't work either.

Eaton gives a fairly solid performance as the intrepid reporter, there's not anything mindblowing mixed in the role but it's nice to have the action broken up with the ongoing commentary and slight touch of humour.

As you'd expect with a fast pace those cameras go running a lot, ugh to jiggly camerawork, but thankfully because it's incorporated with the action you don't notice so much. Along with that you get to see some of Ava's phone camera footage, I think the film could have stood to have more of it, it would have been a relevant change in style and added a little more to spice up the expected elements. I was a little surprised to see some random video game shots creep in, those clips work just fine in things like Guns Akimbo, but in the context of Line Of Duty it didn't make a lot of sense when there was a sensible alternative available.

Line Of Duty is the Ronseal of films, you know what to expect and in that regard it doesn't disappoint. It's got lots of your typical action cliches and if you like the race against time type of storyline then I really don't think you'll have any issue watching it.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/07/line-of-duty-movie-review.html