Slugi wojny

I have recently been watching a number of Polish films and series on online platforms, Many of which I have enjoyed, so I thought I would give this a go.

It has a complicated plot with a number of interesting twists and turns. The relationship between the two leading actors as well portrayed. The action moves along quickly and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.

When Professor Jerzy Abramski, a doctor who specialised in bone marrow transplants who worked for the "Helpful Hand" Foundation, is found murdered Commissioner Wojciech 'Sambor' Samborski is given the case. He is partnered with junior Officer Marta Zadara. Initial suspicion falls on his lover, and mother of his child, but when she too is murdered they realise there is far more to the case than is initially thought; they are dealing with dangerous people who will do whatever it takes to protect their interests.

I rather enjoyed this Polish film. The identity of the killers may be revealed to the viewers fairly early on it is still enjoyable watching the police try to identify the killers and uncover their motive. While this isn't really an action film there are a few impressive action scenes; including a foot chase across rooftops and the killer trying to flee on a motorbike through a maze of shipping containers in the exciting final scenes. Piotr Stramowski and Maria Kania do fine jobs as our protagonists and the rest of the cast are pretty solid too. There are some clichés; at one point Sambor continues investigating after being suspended and a sex scene is somewhat longer than it needs to be; these aren't enough to spoil the film though. Overall a solid low-key crime drama; I'd certainly recommend it to fans of the genre.

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

***** NO-SPOILERS REVIEW *****

Commissioner Wojciech "Sambor" Samborski and Junior Officer Marta Zadara are investigating the murder or a well-known doctor. The investigation gets difficult as more people appear dead.

The story is convoluted. At the end, I didn't feel the reasoning behind everything was too clever and intricate as the writers ambitiously envisioned.

Although the acting is alright, the characters' personas are not. Too stereotypical: macho-man detective, fragile junior officer, tough-yet-funny boss, cynical vilain...

In the end, I was not interested about what was going to happen. I just skipped to the interesting parts until I could get to the disclosure events.

***** SPOILERS REVIEW *****

Commissioner Wojciech "Sambor" Samborski and Junior Officer Marta Zadara are investigating the murder or a well-known doctor linked to the Helpful Hand Foundation. He was researching DNA, or something about that.

Main suspect is a woman the doctor had a case with. Turns out, it is something bigger than passionate crime. A seemingly legal new kind of human organs traffic: DNA information. As explained in the movie, this could lead to the creation of a patogene that targets specific people or incriminate them in random murders, or whatnot. I don't know, something too scientific for me to grasp that this is not just over-ellaborated. THis is further confirmed by the fact that all this information is just dialog between the main characters. No real on-screen action explaining something.

The lack of on-screen events is the main flaw to me. Most information is just dialog. We don't see anything relevant on screen. It is just: "hey, they are selling organs." "Hey, they planted my DNA in a crime scene..." We see the killings, but maybe have the killings off-screen would be better by this point to create suspense. There is no suspense as we know who is behind everything and why very clearly by the middle of the movie.

Sambor and Marta are dating but trying to keep that hidden to their colleagues. No further explanation towards why. By the end, it seems the reason is because Sambor is dumb or doesn't like her enough. They use sex to imply they have strong feelings torwards each other using two very long scenes. I'm OK with sex on screen, but it needs to be done right, otherwise, I feel the producers are just exploiting the actors sexuality and the viewers by showing unreasoned nudity. It is so uneffective that, like I mentioned, in the end, I don't know if they love to bang each other or if they really love each other.

The ending is weird. The two killers kill their employer, which was the main villain until this point. I guess they want to sell the DNA samples, get the money, and get out, but they found it was a good idea to kidnap a police officer. Why not just get the f out is beyond me.

Sambor saves the lady, which we see on screen, and then the day, by covering everything up so people don't go crazy over "reasons". At least I chuckled when Sambor was explaining what he did to his boss.

The lack of a better story development, better villains, better on-screen events and action, and ending sours this movie to me. Unrecommendable.

I am a sucker for crime mysteries and police stories of sorts. Getting one from Poland was quite fun to see. The relationship between the two cops (male/female) is very potent too - no pun intended. But it elevates the movie - especially the way she talks to him. Quite empowering, which I reckon is needed considering we see her naked too, which some may not like and may see as less empowering.

That aside, there are even a few action scenes, especially towards the end, that are very well done. Not the best movie I've seen, but an intriguing and interesting entry nonetheless.