Boundless ★★★

BOUNDLESS is the sixth film adaptation of the Department Q book series by Danish crime writer Jussi Adler-Olsen.

I haven’t seen the last one, 2021’s The Marco Effect, but this latest effort is not as entertaining or suspenseful as the first three films.

It has a new director, Ole Christian Madsen, which probably isn’t part of the problem in terms of suspense. That’s more down to the story which is a little derivative and requires more suspension of disbelief compared to the other films.

No, the main problem is the lack of chemistry between the two main characters which has been a feature of the series.

Ulrich Thomsen is back for his second stint as Carl Mørck, the veteran chief investigator of the small, cold-case team, and he is very engaging as usual. But Assad Youssef’s replacement, Ashfin Firouzi, struggles in the critical assistant role of Mørck’s partner Assad, in particular adding that slight touch of humour.

As is usual with these films, the less you know about the plot the better.

Adler-Olsen has now written 10 books in the series, so we’ve got a few more to look forward to.

According to more devoted fans, Boundless is also one of the weaker instalments in the book series but, on the plus side, book seven, The Scarred Woman, is one of the best.

Watched on Apple TV.