The first run of Cracker, from 1993-1995, was brilliant. Robbie Coltrane (the Harry Potter movies, Ocean's 12) was perfect as the deeply flawed but equally intelligent psychological profiler. When I heard that the series was being revived for one last TV movie in 2006, a decade after the last regular show was filmed, I was pretty excited. My enthusiasm for Cracker: A New Terror soon turned to dismay after the first few minutes. Instead of a gripping taut drama, fans of the show were given a diatribe against the US and its war in Iraq.

Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald (Robbie Coltrane) is a brilliant psychologist. He is able to read people with ease, discovering their motivations, fears, and weaknesses. He can analyze and diagnose a person almost instantly, anyone except himself that is. Fitz is a deeply troubled person, whose personal life is spiraling downward out of control. Addicted to alcohol and tobacco, he gambles heavily and lords his great intelligence over everyone. That causes him to have few friends, and a very strained relationship with his family.

Fitz' psychological skills make him very useful to the police though. He has an exceptional eye for detail, and is able to examine a crime scene and recreate what happened with an uncanny ability. While his personality pushes away many on the police force, his ability to get the job done makes him indispensable.

As the movie opens, Fritz has come back to England after spending several years in Australia. He's returning to spend some time with his grandchildren and to see his daughter's marriage. Spending time reading stories to children isn't the way Fitz wants to spend his holiday however, so when he hears that an American comic has been killed for apparently no reason, he offers his services to the Manchester Police.

The only problem is that the murderer isn't your typical killer, he's an ex-soldier troubled by the things he's seen and done in Northern Ireland and a current police officer assigned to investigating the murder that he committed.

This has all the hallmarks of a great episode except for one thing: writer Jimmy McGovern (who created the show and penned the best show's first two seasons) decided to use this film to make a political statement and he does it without finesse but with all the subtlety of a flying mallet. The basic message of the show is that the US didn't care about terrorism until 9/11 and afterwards it only made things worse with its arrogant cowboy attitude and the naïve way they lashed out after the attacks. This movie is nothing more than a political statement bashing the US.

I could forgive that, honestly I could, if they didn't lose site of what the show should be. This movie isn't a psychological thriller like the earlier series, the mystery and bringing to justice of a murderer isn't the focus anymore. This is Cracker-lite whose raison d'être is to grind a political axe. In the opening minutes Fitz is asking his daughter's new in-laws if they don't secretly get mad when a suicide bomber kills only Iraqis and not any American soldiers. Constantly punctuated by TV and radio broadcasts of terrorism in Ireland and Iraq, sound bites from Bush, and speeches by the killer about how "every bullet that hit every British soldier [was] bought with American dollars", Robbie Coltrane seems to be more of a supporting character than the main character. There was so much chest-beating that the story gets lost somewhere in the midst of it all.

Audio:

The stereo soundtrack was fairly standard for a police drama. The voices were centered on the screen and there wasn't a lot of use made of the soundstage. Not very dynamic, it fit the show well enough.

Video:

The 1.78:1 anamophically enhanced image was surprisingly bland, especially for a show that was so recent. The colors are drab, the image is soft and the detail isn't nearly as fine as I was expecting. There's also a fare amount of grain in the picture and a lot of posterization. While the image wasn't so bad as to be unwatchable, it was much less than I was expecting.

Extras:

This disc also includes a 45-minute featurette: Cracker: Behind the Scenes. This special interviews the cast, including Christopher Eccleston who later go on to become the last Time Lord in the updated Doctor Who, and creators of the show and looks at the casting, stories, and critical acclaim the show has garnered. A very good overview of the program, and much better than the feature on this disc.

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed the original run of Cracker but this reunion show was just horrid. With little in the way of psychological drama or tension, the whole movie was just an excuse for the writer to air his gripes against the US' international politics. Told without subtlety or finesse, this was a wretched film that even Robbie Coltrane couldn't save. Skip it.