Het tweede gelaat

I loved DOSSIER K, ten years ago, from the same director and starring the same leads too. It was a bleak, dark, story about Albanese mafia. This one is one more serial killer scheme, as dozens of millions stories written for movie and TV industries. Not my basic cup of tea, but some of them are awesome, riveting, poignant, and above all, unusual, providing great surprises. This one is not worst than other ones, and at least better than most American that I have seen; and I admit that there were not batches of them. I repeat, I don't crave for serial killers. From Belgian, I could expect something gruesome and of course awesome in the same time. I remember WASTE LAND and THE BEAST several years ago, from Belgian too. Not for the squeamish and the whole family at supper time.....This one is a bit smoother, compared to the two previous movies, and closer to the German's LAND OF MURDERS ; itself the remake of the Spanish LA ISLA MINIMA.... But, I repeat, I am not a specialist of this kind of movie. Maybe I am wrong.

Some things are easy to see through and I would say, if you've seen a couple of thrillers, you won't have any issues seeing where this is heading. Still the characters are interesting and you can mostly understand their motivation and also can relate in general.

That is until the very end, where it all blows up. Well at least a little bit. Depending on your views of how it ties things together at the end and especially how it resolves them, you may have a problem with the movie. If not, you will be enjoying a crime drama, that is predictable but still has class and good actors in it.

Otherwise... you can appreciate the drone's view from the Bruxelle's cathedral

Actors don't know their characters anymore. Professor T and Vincke are mixed up

"Control" is a much better title than "Het Tweede Gelaat," which translates as "Double Face." The film is a police procedural / psychological thriller / bromance. Commanding officer Vincke is a bit of a control freak, while Chief Inspector Verstuyft goes by his instincts. Rina keeps her patients under control with psychoactive drugs, but is out of control personally. Various VIPs attempt to control the investigation. The investigating judge is frustrated in her attempts to control Verstuyft, as is Vincke.

It's a well-made film with a Byzantine plot, plenty of red herrings, credible performances, three-dimensional characters, solid production values, a good chase scene, an effective climax and poetic justice for the villain.