Cracker: A New Terror
by Charles McDougall, Jean Stewart, Julian Jarrold, Michael Winterbottom, Richard Standeven
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DVD details
Actor: Barbara Flynn, Geraldine Somerville, Kieran O'Brien, Robbie Coltrane, Tess ThomsonDirector: Charles McDougall, Jean Stewart, Julian Jarrold, Michael Winterbottom, Richard Standeven
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 108 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-08-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Acorn Media
DVD Reviews of Cracker: A New Terror
DVD Review: Should have paid attention to other reviews!!!!!
Summary: 3 Stars
Wow, this is most certainly NOT as good as the previous 3 Cracker DVD's.
I should have minded the reviews and not bought it, because it was one long tirade against anything American and even suggests 9/11 was manufactured and we Americans deserved it!!
It's a shame to see Robby Coltrane accept such drivel, I guess he needed extra money!
I'm throwing my copy in the trash where it belongs, and hope they do not produce any more, if I want to hear American-bashing and USA - bashing I'll watch the daily news (sadly)
That's my 2 cents and God Bless America!
DVD Review: Some Viewers Had Best Give It a Miss
Summary: 3 Stars
"Cracker: A New Terror," a free-standing episode of the highly-popular, highly-acclaimed, award-winning British 1990's television detective series -- it made its initial debut in 1993 -- was made by Granada, in 2006, for British Independent Television (ITV). It was seen in the United States on BBC America, and released here on DVD in late 2007. The mystery/thriller was written by the veteran Jimmy McGovern, creator of the series, and writer of some of its strongest episodes, and directed by Antonia Bird ("The Hamburg Cell," "Priest.") It stars, as usual, Robbie Coltrane, who since this 1990s TV triumph that first made him famous, has gone on to burnish his name on the bigger screen in "Oceans Twelve," the "Harry Potter" series, and a couple of "James Bond 007s." It is billed as the final episode of "Cracker," though some of us surely hope not.
In this feature-length production, Coltrane reprises his title role as Dr. Edward "Fitz" Fitzgerald, controversial criminologist, abrasive, arrogant and brilliant psychologist. Coltrane dominates the film, of course, with his powerful portrayal of his character. At any rate, Fitz, his long-suffering wife Judith (Barbara Flynn), and their youngest son supposedly have lived as ex-pats in Australia for nearly a decade, while he grapples with his addictions to drink, cigarettes and gambling. They now return to their hometown, Manchester, for the wedding of his daughter. Fitz is, of course, older, fatter, and grayer, and, as a further result of his heavy indulgences, he's looking into Viagra. But he's still capable of rising to the occasion: he can mortify his daughter at her wedding; and get himself involved in helping the local police solve a puzzling murder case.
Fitz finds England much changed in the aftermath of America's horrendous 9/11 terrorist experience; and we are given frequent big bites of TV news shows dealing with American President George Bush, English Prime Minister Tony Blair, and our war in Iraq. Fitz also finds Manchester, a beautiful and interesting city that we don't generally see over here, greatly changed since he left: taxi drivers tell him the changes are due to American, Irish, and drug money: that the city's awash in drugs. The city's also awash in its own accent, that we on these shores would find difficult; happily, the DVD offers unadvertised closed captioning, among its advertised extra features: interviews with Coltrane, Flynn, McGovern, and other cast members, etc.
The murder investigation centers on a handsome, unusually sensitive young local cop, Kenny Archer, played by Anthony Flanagan. He appears to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his previous service in the bloody, long-running war in Northern Ireland. And he's come up with a series of interesting theories that blame everything on the U.S. We're responsible for the Northern Ireland war, as we -- mainly our Irish-Americans, of course-- bankrolled it. (And there are a couple of anti-Irish cracks in the film's text, too.) The terrorist attacks of 9/11 are nothing more than the terrorism we sponsored in Northern Ireland come home to haunt us, as well. We're also responsible for Manchester's drug problem, as we then threw the Taliban, the ruling clique of anti-American,Islamic crazies, who were controlling the drug trade, out of Afghanistan. Almost needless to say, finally, we're responsible for the mess in Iraq, and the deaths of British troops there. Did I mention that, beyond its undoubted competence as a mystery/thriller, the film is very anti-American, and will infuriate some possible viewers, who'd best give it a miss?
DVD Review: Cracker: But an OLD Terror
Summary: 3 Stars
Except for a surprise about a third into the show, this cop story is so predictable that I don't feel guilty about talking in detail about the plot, though I'll try not to spoil anything important. But you've been warned.
This story is ruined by copying American cop show cliches (both in the subject matter of the story and in the TV techniques used to tell it).
There's the extended brutality of a junkie being beaten senseless.
After flashbacks of a killer's memory of dead children lying on a floor, we see our hero climb stairs to where he knows there are children. We see the legs of the children on the floor, motionless, then we see our hero's pained face, then we see the children alive and smiling, watching TV (just like we are at this point). Why the horrified expression on our hero if the kids are all right? It's just a gimmick.
One of the things this story supposedly tries to do is make Americans look bad.
One of the victims is an American who's "sniffing around our women" and who treats the Manchester police like valets (in the American, not the British, sense of the word).
Most of the killer's victims are Americans who show a lack of respect for the British military. (It's a joke about the British in Northern Ireland that triggers the first murder, not anything to do with Bush's war in Iraq or his "lap dog" Tony Blair.)
In fact, the cause of all these murders is Britain's occupation of Belfast, not the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
As it turns out, the Manchester police would have found the killer just as soon even if they hadn't enticed Fitz away from his family.
Of course Fitz confronts the killer and gets him to admit to trying to get the police to kill him because he's afraid to commit suicide. But it looks to me like it's Fitz who's trying to get the killer to kill him, because Fitz can't deal any more with being a drunk and a compulsive gambler who's driven all the people who love him away. (This scene is a cheat, too, making it seem the killer may be granting Fitz his self-destructive wish, but you know he can't be.)
This whole story could have been told if the attacks on September 11 had never happened. I think the producers just wanted to make the story more relevant by tying it to what what Robert Harris in The Ghost: A Novel called "a new Hundred Years War."
DVD Review: More Cracks Appear in Fitz' Family Life
Summary: 5 Stars
Fitz is so endearing because he is truly flawed. He smokes, gambles and definitely drinks too much. Just ask his daughter what she thinks about the toast he gave to her groom at their wedding. Yet, he manages to solve the latest string of murder cases by interrogating and exposing the culprit even though the police constable doesn't really listen to his ideas. And Fitz is brutally honest to his wife when he admits to her that he would rather spend time with the police officers than with his own grandchild. In response to the reviewers who thought the episode was too political and anti-American, I say that Cracker has always taken on the controversial issues of it's time. That is one of the factors which make the detective story seem realistic and intriguing to its fans. The worthwhile special features on the DVD include interviews with Robbie Coltrane, Jimmy McGovern, Barbara Flynn, Chris Eccleston and other members of the cast and creative team.DVD Review: Crackers
Summary: 1 Stars
THIS IS ONE CRACKERS THAT I DID NOT LIKE AT ALL. IN FACT I NEVER FINISHED WATCHING IT. ITS NOT AS GOOD AS THE OLD CRACKERS
Description of Cracker: A New Terror
Studio: Acorn Media Release Date: 09/25/2007 Run time: 108 minutes Rating: NrThe brilliant but self-destructive psychologist Dr. Edward "Fitz" Fitzgerald returns for a final, feature-length, and satisfying mystery in Cracker: A New Terror. Having spent a decade in Australia with his wife and youngest son, Fitz (Robbie Coltrane) returns to Manchester, England for his daughter's wedding, instantly demonstrating--by humiliating her at the reception--that he hasn't altered his old, abrasive ways. Despite that, Fitz's family seems finally resigned to his difficult personality and constant boozing, but far less so to his willingness to help the police solve baffling murder cases. Cracker: A New Terror finds Fitz caught up in the investigation of two killings of Americans, a case that points to a Manchester cop (Anthony Flanagan) as a likely suspect. As usual in Cracker adventures, the insightful script by Jimmy McGovern identifies the killer right away for viewers, the better to set up Fitz's psychological challenge in breaking through a killer's resistance. Directed by Antonia Bird (Priest), Cracker: A New Terror portrays Fitz as a man encountering a new, post-9/1l England, afraid of a new breed of terrorism but hardly over the psychological scars of enduring decades of terror inflicted by the Irish Republican Army. Provocative, tense, and inspired, and featuring another remarkable performance by Coltrane in his best role, Cracker: A New Terror is a great way to close out the series. --Tom Keogh
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