Department Q: A Conspiracy of Faith: the third film in the series, now directed by Hans Petter Moland, keeps a story with sinister undertones, but loses the dark tone that complemented the story. As the film splits its time looking at the investigation, the crime, and its motivation, it is a relatively richer experience, for the genre. Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Fares Fares dive deeply into their respective characters’ previous traits, the former as the dark, disturbed policeman, the latter as the caring, kind one. Pål Sverre Hagen creates a strong, smooth psychopath of a villain. The film’s aesthetics (cinematographer John Andreas Andersen’s images and composer Nicklas Schmidt’s musical score), however, are generally too clean, almost solar at times, which is a bad fit for the material.

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