A stolen laptop instead of zombie western action, straightforward crime thriller instead of philosophical approaches: Hessischer Rundfunk wants to reconcile critics and viewers. Will the station manage to walk the tightrope?
Hand on heart: There is a deep gap in the “crime scene” world. It bears the name Murot and every year separates the admittedly rather small camp of critics and film aficionados from the majority of crime fans. While the former are happy about wacky meta-stories, non-stop movie quotes and philosophical approaches, many viewers moan about exactly that – and at the end of a busy week they might just want to relax for 90 minutes in front of their favorite crime thriller.
With the LKA investigator played by Ulrich Tukur, this was rarely possible in the past: the Wiesbaden commissioner already investigated in a Tarantino-esque splatter strip, defended a police station against zombie-like criminals in a homage to B-movies from the 70s or was busy in his last one Case with the theses of the Frankfurt School. Both ntv.de critics were enthusiastic about “The Principle of Hope”, colleague Ingo Scheel wrote at the time: “(…) construct an ambiguous criminal case around these questions, in which universal emotional states merge in a very appealing way: tragedy and optimism, Destruction and hope, the meaninglessness of our being – and the uplifting feeling when sunlight warms your face for a moment.” A Twitter user summarized her impression as follows: “You can’t even drink the ‘crime scene’ nicely.”
Sensational worlds really cannot be much further apart from one another. Bringing them together is a bit like squaring the circle – and the new case tries to do just that: “Murot and the Law of Karma” is, despite the meaningful title, an amazingly straightforward and, in the classic sense, exciting crime thriller. At least as far as the plot of a stolen laptop full of sensitive documents and the sleazy investment company behind it is concerned. The eponymous karma also plays a role, but by no means to the wacky extent that one is used to from earlier concept episodes: goodbye, experiment.
Away from the plot, however, the film retains its special features: cameraman and Emmy award winner Max Preiss creates a very atmospheric atmosphere with his light-dark lighting concept. And screenwriter Lars Hubrich creates a series of extraordinary characters that director Matthias X. Oberg brings to life with a first-class cast: Anna Unterberger plays an enormously versatile and very likeable femme fatale, Sascha Nathan mimics the ventriloquist Bernd, who occasionally earns some extra money as an arms dealer.
With Murot’s latest case, the Hessischer Rundfunk could manage the balancing act of closing the gap between critics and viewers a little: “Murot and the Law of Karma” is a very entertaining and flawlessly told Sunday evening crime thriller. At the end of the day, a compromise is always a compromise. That’s why the film probably won’t burn itself into people’s memories – in a good or bad sense – on either side.
