AdamJACox

The opening 20-25 minutes are great, they cover the general strokes of what happened during the D. B. Cooper case, and highlight some of the most notable suspects. The problem is that episodes 2 and 3 are basically main investigator Tom Colberts vendetta to prove that his chosen suspect Robert Rackstraw is D. B. Cooper.

The biggest red flag for me is in the very first episode when he says that "i started to document the investigation, so that I could eventually sell it as a documentary", this to me suggests that his motive is to prove his point and potentially overlook contradictory evidence, after all nobody is going to buy a documentary about some guy who isn't D. B. Cooper. This concern is bored out over the next few episodes, for example when Rackstraw's estranged sister is interviewed she says it couldn't be him because he has green eyes, not brown as eyewitness evidence suggests, this is dismissed as it all depends on how you catch them in the light and the flight attendant only had a moment to glace at him. It was reported that the FBI had looked at Rackstraw as a suspect but "they might, have for a good reason at the time, ruled him out", hence it was a CIA/FBI cover-up (the proof he was CIA - "There must be a half-dozen women he bragged that he was in the CIA", cause nobody has ever claimed that and lied about it. Colbert claims he has 93 pieces of compelling evidence but as far as i can tell the only evidence he has is that he knew how to use a parachute. He has no evidence that he was in the area at the time before or after the crime was committed, that Rackstraw was suddenly $200k richer after committing the crime and there is certainly no physical evidence that places him on the plane.

Overall not a great documentary, the opening is good as mentioned and i also thought that the Canadian angle they looked at in the beginning of episode 4 was interesting and new to me but overall it descended in to basically a witch hunt with some ludicrous conspiracy theory logic thrown in, such as the final line of a D. B. Cooper letter, when a numerical value is attributed to each letter and added up it comes to 269, you get the same number when you add up the line 'I'm Lt. Robert W. Rackstraw' therefore this is conclusive proof it must be him.

The acting is exceptional, the subject matter is important but also heartbreaking.

The film is shot basically from the POV of Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) a dementia sufferer who struggles to decipher what is happening. This is a clever way of directing the film and certainly helps the watcher to understand more of what it is like to suffer like this. Anthony Hopkins is brilliant in the role and really hammers home the emotional impact (the ending is truly heart breaking).

Ultimately the fact that the film is all seen from Anthony's point of view, is also the reason my review is so low, i found it confusing to follow and although you can piece together the real truth by the end it just wasn't to my taste.

(Please don't think the score is a judgement on how well made the film is)