MINDHUNTER

Eine brutal komplexe Studie über menschliches Verhalten, die den extremen Gefängnisstoff immer wieder subtil in den Alltag der Hauptfiguren überträgt. Das Gefühl für Detail, rhythmische Dialoge, Ironie und ungeschminkte Spannung "im Hintergrund" machen diese Serie zur Serie des Jahres. (12.11.2017)

After a long time of procrastination, I finally got into Mindhunter and finished both seasons in a couple of days. Season 1 honestly didn't blow me away that much, it took me a while to get used to the slow pacing, the lack of violence and the action definitely frustrated me, but the closer it got to the end the more the series gradually won me over. The finale of the 1st season is very intense and made me want to watch the second season immediately, and I finished that one in one day. The interviews with the serial killers are definitely disturbing and some of the best the series has to offer. I was downright blown away when the storyline moved to Atlanta halfway through season 2, during the hunt for the killer of 25 children, where the police had almost no evidence. That's where David Fincher was at his strongest, in a stiffing and uncompromising atmosphere. Both FBI actors are excellent and Anna Torv downright annoyed me how unlikeable and cold she was. The disturbing music is also excellent. The series is definitely memorable and it's a shame there won't be another season. Story*****, Action>No, Humor>No, Violence*, Funniness*****, Music*****, Visuals*****, Atmosphere*****, Suspense*****. 9/10. (16.02.2021)

There´s a tension. Zodiac goes Mad Men. Precisely refined (in all respects, from every single shot through every single sentence to every single actor regardless of the extent of the role / bit) distinguished slow-flowing procedural analytical thriller based purely on dialogs, which are packed with just as impressively subliminal tension and freezing atmosphere as the Zodiac. Not only the atmosphere will get under your skin but also ambivalence of deeds of the “good guys". The authors will let you grope in the moral gray zone about when, where and how good intentions become the famous road to hell. So, if you like "your Fincher" in the dampen, reserved and cold mode demanding a patient viewer à la Zodiac / House of Cards, then you must not (and especially don´t want) miss this masterpiece. Too bad the (non-existing) end of the introductory series didn´t do the job.| S1: 5/5 | | S2: 4/5 | (13.10.2017)

The first episode, by Fincher, is ironically the weakest. He slowly lays the cards on the table and it's not terribly interesting in the overload of dialogue, but from the second episode, from the meeting with Ed Kamper, things start to pick up and you just watch in fascination the main character's transformation from a nobody to an arrogant genius investigator. I consider the interrogation of the dude in the last episode to be the best thing I've seen in series production in years. I want the second season now!!! (09.01.2018)

Season 1 – 80% – An extremely dense experience, exactly as I expected, given David Fincher's involvement. Technically brilliant, obsessed with professional techniques and factual accuracy – and somewhat unfriendly towards the main characters and almost anti-viewer. The exploration of individual questions and emotionally uncomfortable interviews always end right where they are supposed to, in theory. We can immediately forget about any chase with a cunning villain. When Holden's team presents their theory to me, the case is (at least temporarily) over and we move on to the next chapter. Nothing more, nothing less – and I say this fully aware that Fincher's work can be analyzed and dissected extensively, but in this case, the thought-provoking elements seem either trivial or amusingly strained, like Wendy and her trips for a cat. The whole endeavor rises and falls with the intensity of a specific case, with the emptiness in the eyes of the interrogated, but primarily with the speed at which the viewer believes Jonathan Groff as an FBI agent. Season 2 – 60% – It's as if the enthusiasm for the project disappeared along with all the promises of what awaits us in the long-planned seasons. The format has nowhere else to go, the personal storylines of Bill and Wendy appear somewhat randomly, and in the first case, suspiciously conveniently, and Jonathan Groff seems to have nothing to play except for the opening scenes. What's more, in the last episodes, the series voluntarily gives up its greatest advantage, which is traveling to prisons where unpredictable objects are hidden. The deviation towards closely examined series of events in Atlanta takes away the hypnotic originality from Mindhunter and turns it into an interchangeable contribution to the currently popular "true crime" subgenre. I couldn't justify giving it a lower rating even to myself, but the dragged-out conclusion is responsible for the fact that the (temporary?) hiatus of the series was actually a relief. (07.12.2017)