Product Description

No Description Available.
Genre: Television: British Mystery/Dr
Rating: NR
Release Date: 25-SEP-2007
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59332 in DVD
• Brand: COLTRANE,ROBBIE
• Released on: 2007-08-28
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 108 minutes

Amazon.com
The brilliant but self-destructive psychologist Dr. Edward "Fitz" Fitzgerald returns for a final, feature-length, and satisfying mystery in Cracker: A New Terror. Having spent a decade in Australia with his wife and youngest son, Fitz (Robbie Coltrane) returns to Manchester, England for his daughter's wedding, instantly demonstrating--by humiliating her at the reception--that he hasn't altered his old, abrasive ways. Despite that, Fitz's family seems finally resigned to his difficult personality and constant boozing, but far less so to his willingness to help the police solve baffling murder cases. Cracker: A New Terror finds Fitz caught up in the investigation of two killings of Americans, a case that points to a Manchester cop (Anthony Flanagan) as a likely suspect. As usual in Cracker adventures, the insightful script by Jimmy McGovern identifies the killer right away for viewers, the better to set up Fitz's psychological challenge in breaking through a killer's resistance. Directed by Antonia Bird (Priest), Cracker: A New Terror portrays Fitz as a man encountering a new, post-9/1l England, afraid of a new breed of terrorism but hardly over the psychological scars of enduring decades of terror inflicted by the Irish Republican Army. Provocative, tense, and inspired, and featuring another remarkable performance by Coltrane in his best role, Cracker: A New Terror is a great way to close out the series. --Tom Keogh

The New York Times
Gripping.

Fresh Air (NPR)
The drama - and the message - arrive in full force.

Customer Reviews

Fitz returns!
Robbie Coltrane is back in this thriller...he's older, fatter, and even more restless and risks his family, the admiration of his son, and his time with his new granddaughter, to "get on" with an intriguing case. Someone is killing people by breaking their necks. In the meantime you really get into the head of the killer, who is a vulnerable, sympathetic character and you gain a different perspective on the IRA problem. All the regulars appear in this full-length episode and I was thrilled to get back to the series; so well-acted, each and every character perfectly cast, as always. Poor Mrs. Fitz; she can't get her husband to hang around and just play the grandfather! I hope they will make more Cracker episodes..!

Some Viewers Had Best Give It a Miss
"Cracker: A New Terror," a free-standing episode of the highly-popular, highly-acclaimed, award-winning British 1990's television detective series -- it made its initial debut in 1993 -- was made by Granada, in 2006, for British Independent Television (ITV). It was seen in the United States on BBC America, and released here on DVD in late 2007. The mystery/thriller was written by the veteran Jimmy McGovern, creator of the series, and writer of some of its strongest episodes, and directed by Antonia Bird (The Hamburg Cell.) It stars, as usual, Robbie Coltrane, who since this 1990s TV triumph that first made him famous, has gone on to burnish his name on the bigger screen in Ocean's Twelve; the "Harry Potter" series, and a couple of "James Bond 007s." It is billed as the final episode of "Cracker," though some of us surely hope not.

In this feature-length production, Coltrane reprises his title role as Dr. Edward "Fitz" Fitzgerald, controversial criminologist, abrasive, arrogant and brilliant psychologist. Coltrane dominates the film, of course, with his powerful portrayal of his character. At any rate, Fitz, his long-suffering wife Judith (Barbara Flynn), and their youngest son supposedly have lived as ex-pats in Australia for nearly a decade, while he grapples with his addictions to drink, cigarettes and gambling. They now return to their hometown, Manchester, for the wedding of his daughter. Fitz is, of course, older, fatter, and grayer, and, as a further result of his heavy indulgences, he's looking into Viagra. But he's still capable of rising to the occasion: he can mortify his daughter at her wedding; and get himself involved in helping the local police solve a puzzling murder case.

Fitz finds England much changed in the aftermath of America's horrendous 9/11 terrorist experience; and we are given frequent big bites of TV news shows dealing with American President George Bush, English Prime Minister Tony Blair, and our war in Iraq. Fitz also finds Manchester, a beautiful and interesting city that we don't generally see over here, greatly changed since he left: taxi drivers tell him the changes are due to American, Irish, and drug money: that the city's awash in drugs. The city's also awash in its own accent, that we on these shores would find difficult; happily, the DVD offers unadvertised closed captioning, among its advertised extra features: interviews with Coltrane, Flynn, McGovern, and other cast members, etc.

The murder investigation centers on a handsome, unusually sensitive young local cop, Kenny Archer, played by Anthony Flanagan. He appears to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his previous service in the bloody, long-running war in Northern Ireland. And he's come up with a series of interesting theories that blame everything on the U.S. We're responsible for the Northern Ireland war, as we -- mainly our Irish-Americans, of course-- bankrolled it. (And there are a couple of anti-Irish cracks in the film's text, too.) The terrorist attacks of 9/11 are nothing more than the terrorism we sponsored in Northern Ireland come home to haunt us, as well. We're also responsible for Manchester's drug problem, as we then threw the Taliban, the ruling clique of anti-American,Islamic crazies, who were controlling the drug trade, out of Afghanistan. Almost needless to say, finally, we're responsible for the mess in Iraq, and the deaths of British troops there. Did I mention that, beyond its undoubted competence as a mystery/thriller, the film is very anti-American, and will infuriate some possible viewers, who'd best give it a miss?

More Cracks Appear in Fitz' Family Life
Fitz is so endearing because he is truly flawed. He smokes, gambles and definitely drinks too much. Just ask his daughter what she thinks about the toast he gave to her groom at their wedding. Yet, he manages to solve the latest string of murder cases by interrogating and exposing the culprit even though the police constable doesn't really listen to his ideas. And Fitz is brutally honest to his wife when he admits to her that he would rather spend time with the police officers than with his own grandchild. In response to the reviewers who thought the episode was too political and anti-American, I say that Cracker has always taken on the controversial issues of it's time. That is one of the factors which make the detective story seem realistic and intriguing to its fans. The worthwhile special features on the DVD include interviews with Robbie Coltrane, Jimmy McGovern, Barbara Flynn, Chris Eccleston and other members of the cast and creative team.