Crappy film

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I watched this entire movie but fell asleep during the last 5 minutes. That wasn't the only time either; I struggled to stay awake the entire movie! Having invested that much time in it, I wanted to see how it ends and who did it. As it is, I don't know how it ends, and what's worse? I don't care. I found this movie boring, confusing, and quite slow. I kept hoping it would hurry up and end, but it kept dragging along. I have no idea how this rates a 6.8? It's a 1 at best. You may be tempted to give it a try. Save yourself a couple hours and pass on this turkey.

I read the book first, which if I hadn't wouldn't have made this too bad of a movie...but since I had read it, the movie was an extreme disappointment! You expect some minor changes in the plot to fit movie time etc, but after the first 1/3 of the movie it wasn't anything like the book at all. It became a whole other story. After that point, neither the interactions between the characters or who the killer was were in the book at all, and key figures in the book, especially who the killer was and how some of the characters died were missing or totally changed...Perhaps the book should be re-released to reflect the movie since the author approved the movie,as totally different to the book he wrote to begin with.

The cops in this British drama don't act like professional policemen but more like mentally deranged teenagers with anger management issues. The main character, DI Thorne (David Morrissey), is not in control of his emotions. His volatility and rage seem to infect the other members of the cast so that in total what we have here is a virtual feeding frenzy of scenery chewing. Cops yell at other cops and cops and medical doctors yell at each other. In one scene one character becomes enraged and punches another character repeatedly in the face for no reason that was apparent to me. DI Thorne seems to believe that he can communicate with a woman in a vegetative state by shouting at her. Other times he seems depressed and on the verge of suicide. The plot is senseless and contrived. Nobody appears to behave rationally. A woman doctor, when she finds out that her daughter has been kidnapped, just freaks out and starts screaming uncontrollably and Thorne freaks out too, running around like a chicken with its head cut off. So who's minding the store?I don't generally like procedurals that feature serial killers, and especially serial killers with weird and perverted MOs, and especially serial killers who have an obsession with the primary investigator, sending him taunting messages. These are tired, boring clichés. That's my prejudice. But I must admit that genre could be done well in the right hands. This one is just awful. Don't waste your time.

There is a reason that Mark Billingham's original novel Sleepyhead was such a huge Bestseller when it came out. Watching the TV show version you would be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about. The novel was an ripping edge-of-the-seat page turner with twists and turns that would make your head spin. This is the most unfaithful adaptation imaginable, with terrible writing and clichéd characters and a completely re- written and boring plot. The book does make brief mention of one of DI Thorne's previous cases, a gay serial killer. The TV show decides to expand this mention while simultaneously reducing the story from the book to virtually nothing. The resulting story is a deeply confusing hotchpotch of incongruous ideas and fumbled attempts at carving a new direction. TV SHOW ENDING SPOILER: The killer from the book is completely different to the show with a genius MO missing from the show version. I have little doubt that author Billingham would be mortified at what has been done to his brilliant book and beloved characters.