Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Detective stories
Likes: Flawed characters
Dislikes: Made-for-TV movies, most British dramas
Hates: Being bored

The Movie
Justine has a problem. She's a beat cop who wants to be a police detective, but she's got a big strike against her: her dad, a former detective, is in prison for killing a man. The police are holding that against her, and it doesn't make her too happy. Her mother being murdered doesn't help, especially when she finds out her father, against whom her mother testified, has recently been released. It seems like a coincidence to Justine, who believes her dad is innocent, but her brother Mark thinks he committed both murders.

Thus begins Justine's quest to prove her father's innocence, a quest that's none too easy, as it seems to her that dear old dad is being framed by his former colleagues. Tracking down his past, she runs afoul of her own bosses and her brother, but she's a determined young lady and won't stop until she clears her dad's name. To be honest, that's the whole plot. Somehow, the creators thought it was a good idea to spread that story over two-plus hours. As a result, there's a lot of superfluous talking and not a lot happening. There are parts where you could get up, leave the room for a while, come back and think you're in the same scene. But in reality, it's just another lengthy chat session.

Emma Pierson, who has something of a Keira Knightley quality to her, is good as Justine, but she's only given so much to work with in terms of plot and dialogue, while Kevin McNally is simply doing a gruff ex-con imitation in playing her dad. I would describe some of the other characters, but they aren't much more memorable. On the other hand, the ending is somewhat memorable, and not at all predictable, as it's doesn't fit the norm for this genre. Unfortunately, by the time we finally got there, it's hard to really care all that much. In fact, the ending is as stretched out as the rest of the movie, spreading out the moment to the point where it loses all impact.

With some smart editing, this could have been a tense mystery movie, but at the current length it's another overwrought example of bad made-for-TV cinema. That's a real shame, as the cinematography is actually nice, with some very good composition and enjoyable camera movement that gives the movie more energy and art than the story deserved.

The DVD
Bloodlines originally aired as a two-episode miniseries on British television, way back in early 2005. Here, on this single DVD release, which is packaged in a standard keepcase, the two halves are still presented separately, and without any play-all option. Admittedly, 137 minutes is a lot of movie, but that's why we have pause and scene selection menus. The disc has a static, full-frame main menu, with play option for both parts of the film, scene access and the extras. There are no audio options, no subtitles and no closed captioning.

The Quality
The full-frame transfer is rather disappointing, mainly for the excessive amount of grain evident in many scenes, especially during wide shots. It's a pretty obvious problem, and one that stands out for such a recent production. Aside from some small spots of dirt and edge enhancement, that's all the negatives, as the color is good, as well as the level of detail. If they could have cleaned up the grain, this would have been a good-looking release.

The audio is a Dolby Digital 2.0 track that doesn't do much to grab your attention, though it does a nice job with the dialogue and background music. The sound is purely center-channel, and delivers a strong mix that keeps it all clean.

The Extras
The only extras are a pair of web links, for Koch and for Lance Entertainment, that you can access by popping this disc into your DVD-ROM drive. Almost makes you long for the days of production notes and filmographies.

The Bottom Line
For a British murder mystery, this isn't a bad film, but it plods along too slowly and covers the same ground too often to be truly entertaining. It's more of an exercise in patience, as you wait for Justine to put the pieces together. Considering how "CSI" could do the same story in 42 minutes, 3 times that length is overkill. The DVD presentation is decent, but definitely not great, and a complete lack of extras leaves the disc to live or die on the strength of the main feature. This movie isn't strong enough to carry the load though, so look elsewhere for your entertainment.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.