Bordertown: The Mural Murders

This film is a sequel to the series 'Bordertown'; if you have yet to watch the series the film will be hard to follow as no time is wasted introducing the various protagonists.

When a mural of convicted killer Lasse Maasalo and the words 'Let's Make the World a Better Place' are painted in blood the police contact Kari Sorjonen, the former detective who is undergoing treatment for psychiatric problems. After looking at the evidence he is convinced that Maasalo must have manipulated somebody else into committing the murder but he has conditions before he will talk to the authorities. Somebody has set up a website to identify the five people who would be least missed; the first victim was number one on the list; presumably the others will follow. Kari's former partner, Lena, is back in Finland and her daughter is number seven on the list.

Having enjoyed the series I watched this as soon as I saw it was on Netflix. I thought the film was effective but not as good as the series. It started well but most of the scenes featuring Maasalo, especially those where he spoke first to Sorjonen's daughter the Sorjonen himself, felt far too obviously inspired by Hannibal Lector. It was good to see all the usual characters again although one wonders just how often Lena's daughter Katia can get herself in trouble! The acting is solid; especially from Ville Virtanen, as Kari. The various settings are fairly impressive. Overall I'd definitely recommend to fans of the series wanting more... if you like the look of it but haven't yet seen the series, watch that first.

These comments are based on watching the film in Finnish with English subtitles.