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City Homicide (2006–2011)
8/10
Definitely not like an American show... in a good way.
23 June 2011
Frankly, I'm an American watching this show "second hand" via the internet, 72 minutes at a time. This means my frame of comparison is typical American cop dramas.

I really like this show.

Unlike most US cop dramas, City Homicide is an actual ensemble show without a true "top billed" personality and a more realistic focus on the case, investigation, and legwork instead of the type of action real cops would call a SWAT team in for. Also, the plots suffer little in the way of "creep" towards outrageous plots like half of the CSI: Miami plots.

Another credit for City Homicide is the fact the actors don't come across like clothes models reading scripts. While most of the cast are attractive, they're believably so.

As far as characterization goes, City Homicide paints the characters as human with flaws that have to be lived with or worked around and not-- like many American shows--show up once out of the blue and are resolved in a single two-episode arc.

This is also a refreshing change.

If you like police dramas, give it a try. If you're an American and you somehow can watch this show, definitely give it a try.

(And don't worry, you'll pick up on the accent pretty quickly...)
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Spartan (2004)
9/10
The tale of a Marine called above and beyond the call of duty...
18 January 2006
The tale of a Marine called above and beyond the call of duty...

...only to be betrayed by those appointed over him.

Spartan follows Scott (Val Kilmer), a member of an unnamed special operations unit tasked to support the Secret Service when the daughter of the President goes missing. Taking the lead in the investigation and joined by a newly minted member of the unit played by Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher, Friday Night Lights), Scott trails the First Daughter throughout Massechusetts and abroad.

An absence of flashy special effects and unrealistic fight scenes reveal a character driven movie that may leave some juvenile watchers expecting more. As a story of a professional having to overcome the failure of the system he supports in order to fulfill what he sees as a moral duty.

The understated dialog is a nice change from the packaged sound-bites found in similar movies like "Basic".
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