Boxer35 wrote:supposedly the review embargo for this one doesn't lift until the day before it premieres on netflix. seems a bit strange.

Once in development in HBO, executive produced by Charlize Theron, created by “The Road” screenwriter Joe Penhall, and based on the book “Mind Hunter: Inside The FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit” by Mark Olshaker and John E. Douglas, it returns Fincher to the subject matter with which he’s arguably had the greatest creative success, thanks to “Se7en” and “Zodiac”: serial killers. It’s closer to the latter than the former, being a true crime tale set in the 1970s.

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But as the set-up moves on and Penhall’s script digs in, it becomes clear that, as with “Zodiac” (and the show resembles less the whole of that film in general, and more specifically the haunting final scene with John Carroll Lynch’s suspect), it’s the detail and psychological realism that sets this apart. At times, it feels closer to docudrama than procedural, with academic theories discussed in detail and long, unbroken interview sequences — fans of true crime shows like “Making A Murderer” are likely to be more at home than “Law & Order” obsessives.

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And of course, this being Fincher, it looks and sounds nearly impeccable. As with his “House Of Cards” episodes, the direction’s probably a little more functional than his feature work (giant place-setting captions are the biggest stylistic flourish), but Fincher being functional is still anyone else at the top of their game, and frankly anything else would have distracted from the material. Only a couple of on-the-nose needle drops (of course, the second hour ends with Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer”) feel ill-advised.

It’s always tough to review a show after just two episodes, especially one as serialized and, seemingly, ready to evolve as this one (Anna Torv, third-billed in the cast, isn’t glimpsed at all in the first two hours). And if you’re already fed up of serial killer fare, it’s unlikely to change your mind. But I can pay it no higher compliment to say that, as the credits rolled after the first two episodes, with mid-festival exhaustion firmly setting in, I’d happily have sat there for the rest of the day to watch the remaining ones. [B+]