Such a frustrating disappointment

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Dame Helen Mirren ends perhaps her most famous role besides that of Queens. Jane Tennison DCI is one of the most original female characters that television has produced in recent years. She is almost unforgettable. When Dame Helen Mirren first started, few people knew who she was and now everybody knows in the world that she is one of the finest acting talents from Britain. I knew she was in 1986 when I saw her play a maid in a Titanic film. As Jane Tennison, Helen Mirren embodies the role with such complexity that it seems so easy and natural. Jane approaches retirement with one last case but you know that Jane has lived for this job. They have this marriage between them. In the final installment of this legendary series, Helen and Jane bow out gracefully in the end. Jane battles alcoholism, loneliness, and her father's pending death. She reunites and befriends AA member, Bill Otley, played by Tom Bell shortly before his death. I felt the parents of the missing girl were quite believable in their roles. Jane's pending retirement is beset by loss, wonder, and disappointment. In the end, she bounces back, makes a shattering discoveries about the case, and you wonder what would happen to Jane Tennison that you want more. Maybe she is lecturing on crime techniques at a university or other British police officers. One can only hope that this is not the last we see of Dame Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison.

It's retirement time for Jane Tennison, but she has one more case to solve in "Prime Suspect: The Final Act" starring Helen Mirren as Tennison. The question is, can Tennison stay in control long enough to find the murderer of a missing girl? You really wonder as she deals with what has become blatant alcoholism, the death of her father, and the consequences of her choices in life. Only Helen Mirren could have created the fully fleshed out, human character of Jane Tennison. Mirren is one of the greatest actresses of our time, perhaps of any time. And like a lot of English actresses, and though she's capable of great glamor, Mirren is not afraid of harsh lights, aging, and a few lines on the face. Her Jane is worn out and looks it. In working her last case, Jane comes up against the tragedy of losing her father, her uneasy relationship with her sister and niece, her retirement, and the bottle. In her loneliness and remembrance of a life with possibilities, she bonds with young Penny (Laura Greenwood), a troubled friend of the murdered girl - though the girl's father becomes a suspect.I admit I had a problem understanding a lot of the dialogue in this - the British go in for that natural sound replete with background noise, heavy accents, and no body mikes. Also, this was a particularly noisy episode as nearly all the dead girl's mother did was scream at the top of her lungs, and she wasn't alone. Nevertheless, Mirren's performance cut across any problems I may have had. As Penny, Laura Greenwood, who resembles the American actress Amber Tamblyn, gave a truly marvelous performance. Doubtless we'll be seeing her in more British imports to come.As part of the Masterpiece Theatre presentation, Mirren gave an interview about the role of Jane, and how she had been counseled by a police woman never to cry except in private, never to fold her arms across her body, and to touch people (a display of power). She stated that she stopped doing "Prime Suspect" for a time lest she be too closely identified with the role of Jane and cease being Helen Mirren, actress. As if she could ever be anything else.

In a remarkable performance Helen Mirren plays the alcoholic detective Jane Tennison with depth and understanding rare in television. Mirren once the vivacious girl who was opposite James Mason in Norman Lindsay's "Age of Consent" today is not frightened of getting down and dirty in her roles. She goes full bore warts and all. Supported by a strong cast of British character players we can overlook some minor plot weaknesses when the overall quality of this series is streets ahead of the usual crap cop shows on the box. If only most TV was this good. Not often do we see actors bare their souls like Mirren outside of the cinema screen. Others in the cast worthy of mention are Stephen Tompkinson as Sean Philips, and Gary Lewis as Tony Sturdy.

The original 'Prime Suspect', an unusually tough police procedural thriller, was a landmark in early 1990s television, immediately making other hits series like 'Inspector Morse' appear tired and out-of-date. Since then, the series has retained some quality through its relatively infrequent outings, but still, the writing has not always been as good as in the first episode and in some cases has lapsed into the melodramatic cliché of the standard crime show. Gradually, I lost interest (I think about the fifth time that the whole direction of central character Jayne Tennyson's life was on the line if she didn't solve some murder in the face of the scepticism of her colleagues). But the series has always featured great acting from the incomparable Helen Mirren in that role, and in this final part she has arguably never been finer, there is some longer-term narrative development from the earlier episodes and Mirren exploits the character's growing history as the basis for a harrowing, wholly three-dimensional performance that almost seems out of place in a crime drama. Behind her performance, there's a nicely executed but less extraordinary tale of murder that could have come from any other cop show.What's amazing about Mirren is how she truly inhabits the parts she plays: having recently seen her in Channel Four's 'Elizabeth', one can say the two series constitute a masterclass of televisual acting, ancient and modern. The series may be done; but the prime of Helen Mirren is far from over.