Prime Suspect 3

Starring:Helen Mirren, Peter Capaldi, Michael Shannon, Greg Saunders, David Thewlis, Danny Dyer, Tom Bell, Richard Rees, Terrence Hardiman, Mark Strong (II), Karen Tomlin, Struan Rodger, Liza Sadovy, John Benfield, Terence Harvey, Stafford Gordon, Lewis Jones (II), CiarÃ¡n Hinds, Gilbert Wynne, John Middleton (II)
Director: David Drury
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Description

Helen Mirren is Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison and has been transferred to a new station and now has the job of cleaning up the streets of Soho. D.C.I. Tennison takes the team into the underworld of teenage prostitution, pornography and runaways in the third season of Prime Suspect.

Customer Reviews:

Dealing in stereotypes.......2007-07-03

In several of the entries in the "Prime Suspect" series Helen Mirren, as Detective Chief Inspector (later Superintendant) Jane Tennison and the writing have richly deserved all the accolades that have been heaped upon them over nearly twenty years, but that unfortunately is not the case here. This is the only entry besides the first that was written by the series creator Lynda LaPlante, but the writing is extremely weak. This time, Tennison is trying to uncover the truth about a gay pedophilic ring that involves murder, molestation, and child pornography, and all the gay characters Tennison interviews are either delicate victims or monstrous predators (or both). Everything seems lurid and sensationalistic. The director, David Drury, made the ghastly choice to have a boy's choir pipe in incessantly every time Tennison's detectives come across one of the young street hustlers, as if we might forget that innocence has been corrupted. We are also treated to such cliches as fluttery drag queens and menacing AIDS-infected children who inflict deadly bites on the detectives; and it's no good excusing all this by chalking it up to the attitudes of the times, because by 1994 LaPlante truly should have known better. The stereotyping of gay characters is so excessive that in the first episode I knew that there'd have to be at least one suicide attempt among the gay characters: there are no less than three of these, and since two of them seem wildly telegraphed ahead of time in Tennison's immediate proximity she seems like a terrible detective. And she doesn't seem much better as a boss, either, this time around. Usually Tennison must contend with both superiors and subordinates constantly undermining her authority because of her gender, but though her superiors are genuinely out to get her again, here Tennison's underlings seem to be doing the best they can, even though they're constantly being barked at by her for everything imaginable. If you hadn't seen the previous entrants in the series, you'd just think she were just an unpleasant crank.

Mirren, normally an unimpeachable actress, seems to have been done no favors by Drury who allows her to engage in all kinds of distracting bits of "business," like chomping away at her nicotine gum like a house afire to show her distraction and anxiety. David Thewlis, who is also equally talented, also gives a performance that is all tics as the nasty street hustler who is Tennison's prime suspect in the murder of an underage rent boy, and purses his lips over and over again when being interviewed by Tennison and her staff. It's impossible to believe that either he or Ciaran Hinds (here, flat and dull) could deliver any of the menace or charisma needed to keep so many young victims in line. The other actors fare much better, particularly James Frain as a sweet-sad molestation victim and Peter Capaldi as a nervous drag queen. They, and the machinery of the plot, are really all that keeps this production afloat.

Helen Mirren, the BEST!.......2007-03-15

Loved Prime Suspect, Season 2
Wish I had known about this series years ago but so glad I did eventually find out about it! I'll get all seasons eventually. GREAT price!
I don't feel like I'm watching TV. I feel like I'm watching a well made movie!

Prime Suspect 1.......2007-03-08

Beautiful performances by all involved and thrilling to watch. Involves the viewer from the start, great murder mystery. Helen Mirren is excellent!

Still Prime!.......2006-03-18

Get ready to enjoy another installment of the enthralling police crime drama that highlights the talent of Helen Mirren. This deeply disturbing tale of homeless boy prostitutes brings out the dark side of police investigation--at all ranks!

The only one to buy after the first........2004-02-26

The only Prime Suspect installment (other than the original) to be authored by Lynda La Plante, Prime Suspect 3 once again displays the hallmarks of La Plante's journalistic research base for creating fictional characters. In this case, "rent boys" are the fuel: young male prostitutes/street kids, and in particular one heartbreaking interview where a rent boy had told La Plante that he couldn't have AIDS, because he was only 15.

Customer Reviews:

Dealing in stereotypes.......2007-07-03

Helen Mirren, the BEST!.......2007-03-15

Prime Suspect 1.......2007-03-08

Beautiful performances by all involved and thrilling to watch. Involves the viewer from the start, great murder mystery. Helen Mirren is excellent!

Still Prime!.......2006-03-18

The only one to buy after the first........2004-02-26

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

BET ComicView All Stars, Vol. 7

The Boston Strangler

Three Stooges (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Dragon Ball Z - Kid Buu - Vegeta's Plea

The Darkest Light