Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Denmark, 2014. A former police officer asks Carl Mørck, head of Department Q, to find out who brutally killed his young twins in 1994. Although a local inhabitant confessed and was convicted of murder, Carl and his partner Assad soon realize that there is something in the case resolution that is terribly wrong.
The Absent One is a solid Nordic noir entry in the Department Q series, faithfully adapting Jussi Adler-Olsen's novel. The cold case structure and boarding school privilege angle give it some thematic weight, but the plotting is fairly conventional for the genre. Acting from Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Fares Fares as Carl and Assad is dependable and carries the film, though supporting performances are uneven. Cinematography is competent Scandinavian gloom — functional but unremarkable. As a sequel in an established franchise following a familiar formula, Novelty is limited despite the film's competent execution. The ending resolves satisfactorily without surprising.