True Detective: Season 1 [DVD] [2014]

Really enjoyed this!

This first season is the best serious T.V. drama since The Wire. Just brilliant.

Set in Vermillion Parish, Louisiana, this series present two Homicide Detectives, Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) and Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) investigating mysterious disappearances from 1995 to 2012. Starting with the murder of prostitute Dora Lange, Hart and Cohle are puzzled by the crime scene: the victim has been blindfolded, crowned with deer's antlers and her body arranged as if she was praying in front of a tree. Cohle soon understands it is the work of a serial killer; however, the two Detectives are confronted to a constant erasing of clues, either from Nature (hurricanes, overabundant vegetation, closeness of water...) or from human interaction (drugs dealers, interfering politicians, corrupted religious leaders). Also, the two Detectives' opposite personalities make their investigation difficult: Hart is the hypocritical family man unable to resist chasing skirts whereas Cohle, intelligent but broken, cannot recover from the accidental death of his baby daughter and the use of drugs during a previous undercover mission. A major falling-out in 2002 will separate the two men, only to be reunited after having been interviewed by Detectives Thomas Papania (Tory Kittles) and Maynard Gilbough (Michael Potts): Hart and Cohle will join forces again to stop the serial killer, even at the cost of their lives... A very good series, with an intelligent plot and a set of fantastic male actors. However, writer Nic Pizzolatto has failed in creating strong female characters. The only women are stereotypes that can be found in any other cop TV show: prostitutes, stripers, empty-headed girlfriends, fed-up cop's wife... Michelle Monaghan as Maggie Hart is boring and her scene of revenge sex with her husband's partner is of the poorest taste. One can only hope Nic Pizzolatto will create a strong female character for the second series of True Detectives!

Alas, after all the hype, True Detective has proved terribly disappointing, despite marvelous performances by Mathew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. One reviewer claimed the series "was never ever dull". He's got to be kidding! All those long, boring cockamamie soliloquies McConaughey has to deliver- over and over again - as detective Rust Cohle. Thank goodness for Harrelson's quips as his less high-falutin, down-to-earth sidekick, Marty Hart. Granted, the interaction between the two main characters is always fun. Rust as a nattering Nietsche uses a lot of fancy words and I loved it when, after he has tiresomely referred to humans as "sentient meat" over several episodes, Marty finally asks what that "scented meat" is he keeps on about. Then too, the story line can be hard to follow as it is narrated separately by the two detectives, and moves back and forth in time between 1995 and the present. Then on the eighth and last dvd, the finale! (Spoiler Alert!!) - We see Cohle endlessly walking through the labyrinth of an old abandoned brick fort bedecked with those scary twigs as he follows the directions of "The Monster". How can he hear him so distinctly? Are there hidden speakers everywhere in the ruins? Okay, tension is high but minutes go by. Then, one brutal fight. The monster dead. And that's it? All other mysteries are abandoned? And how could our guys have possibly survived such knife and hatchet wounds? Okay, medicine has made leaps and bounds over past years. Of course, I am not complaining. You can't help but love these two throughout the series. I didn't want them dead. But I am no longer waiting anxiously for Series Two, especially as McConaughey and Harrelson won't be in them.

I'm gonna just throw this out right now. This show is some of the best I've ever seen. Everything from the acting to writing was simply masterful. Although as some more critical reviews have stated this show starts rather slow without having a real action scene until like 4 or 5 episodes in. However SLOW is the correct word, BORING is not. Not even for a second were my eyes not glued to the screen during this show. I was simply mesmerized by everything in this show. Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson star in this show and both give some of the best and most intense performances I've seen, both inside TV shows and out. I knew McConaughey would be superb having seen Dallas Buyers Club and Mud about a month before starting this show. Harrelson on the other hand I had NO idea of how brilliant an actor this man is! I'd only seen him in Zombieland and in the Hunger Games movies. He was great in both of those, but I was concerned he would feel inferior to McConaughey. This is not the case, Harrelson holds his own and then some! I bought this for £23 as I waited for it to lower as I considered £30-£40 too high for eight episodes. However after seeing this I can tell you even £40 is worth it. This is the first show besides Game of Thrones I'd consider a masterpiece. I will say this: Do NOT watch this show if you are not mature enough to appreciate the themes and subtlety in the dialogue. This show is incredibly mature. And I'm not just talking sex and violence (Which this show does have a fair bit of) I'm talking seriously mature.

I saw this Series in HD and the first thing I must tell You is, this Copy has a very poor Image. The reason why I've bought it, was the Portuguese Subtitles. But forget the Picture, because we are before the most increadible Crusade of the World's Serial Killer's Stories of our times ! Hard do describe the brilliant HBO's Work as well as the astonishing Mathew McConaughey's Performance! A terrible fight against true 'Demons' of Flesh & Blood. A fantastic Show about the worst cruel Freaks we can be, as well as the best feellings and attitudes we are capable of... A Portrait of Evil, Madness, Body and Soul's Misery, Fanaticism and Corruption! A Chamber of Horrors most of them ingeniously hidden from our eyes, but perfectly read between the lines! Also a lesson about pure Friendship and Partnership. Superb narrative! Superb dialogues most of all between two Detectives, two absolutely different personalities, the Main Characters of this impressive Series. McConaughey is so intense that once in a while we have to breathe...fresh Air... A Woody Herrelson at his best and a luxury Cast. Prepare yourself to Repugnant and extremely Violent scenes and to this magnificent creation of a Sadistic Unforgetable Psychopath! The simple and beautiful Soundtrack, suggests me a 'Sad Prayer' to all the injured and unfortunate of this World... And the last scene, is so much full of Humanity and Kindness, and so remarkably performed, that I could not avoid Tears... Resuming: Writers, Actors and Cameras at their best and...a Series to Remember...

HBO's True Detective starring 2013 Academy Award Winner Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club) in another career defining performance & Woody Harrelson in his best role yet could just as easily have been another run-of-the-mill TV Detective series. What sets this series apart from the rest, other than the performances, is that the story is not rushed, it develops beautifully over 8 cinematic episodes all written by Nic Pizzolato & all directed by Cary Fukunaga which gives it consistency & builds up tension without needing gimmicky & uneccesary set pieces to keep us entertained. Whilst action is limited (except for one or two scenes, in particular episode 4) the tension remains high throughout thanks to the snappy dialogue & character development over the course of the series. Spanning 17 years from 1995 as the pair are investigating a serial killer across Louisiana, we see the scenes of 1995 played out as the investigation jumps through the years to 2012. Suspicion soon begins to gather against Hart & Coles handling of events in '95 and we see how their personal & professional lives unravel over the years leading to the 2012 climax. Sophisticated, stylish & visually stunning. True Detective is an incredible insight into the minds of these two Homicide Detectives & the case that has haunted them for years. Like a good book, it pulls you and the only dissapointment is knowing there is an end after 8 hours of tense drama! This could be one of the best miniseries ever made. A class apart in it's genre. 5/5

Very dark, but riveting. Great acting. Unforgettable scenes. The follow-up series are nothing like as good.

Llegó mucho antes de lo previsto, todo bien. De mis series favoritas

I purchased 2 copies of season but they are error and won't play in any of my DVD players and I have 4 or five players. I'm sure they will play nicely in other foreign countries but not here in the states. I still rated them 5's because I watched them on tv when they first aired a few years ago.

今更ですが、ずっと見ようと思っていて、入り込めていなかったのですが、一気に見てしまいました。シーズン通じての1本の物語です。アクションなど派手なものを求めているのならば、避けた方が良いです。むしろ、舞台劇のような2,3人の会話が多いです。荒んで甘ったるさは全く無い世界です。主役のMatthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson の2人の占める割合が大きく2人とも素晴らしいです。途中にアクションもありますが、少ないです（その分インパクトはありますが）。映像の作りはていねいで凝っています。ただ、一番素晴らしいのは物語です。演技、演出、脚本、全て安心して見ていられます。 まさにintenseです。その世界に入れれば一気に見てしまうと思います。第一話を見て気に入るかどうか判断すると良いでしょう。完璧な善人はいないですが、まさにTrue Detective、題名が響きます。熱い友情、というよりは固い信頼関係、正義感でしょうか。それにしても、笑うところではないですが、皆証言していて、現れる事実全てがそれと全く違う…

"True Detective" ist ohne jegliche Zweifel mindestens die beste Serie, die ich je zu Gesicht bekommen habe, vielleicht sogar das Beste, was ich je über das Medium Fernsehn / Leinwand gesehen habe. Wer sich etwas mit Scriptwriting, Bildästethik und Schauspiel auskennt weiß wovon ich rede. Ich dachte nach Breaking Bad "Was soll das noch toppen?" Nun, es wurde geschafft. Fernab vom Mainstream und Popkornkino entwickelt sich die typische Seriensogwirkung, die man von anderen Formaten kennt, nur steckt noch viel mehr dahinter. Die Geschichte lässt sich Zeit, das mag den ein oder anderen zwar abschrecken, doch meinen persönlichen Geschmack hat es zu 100% getroffen. Es wird nicht von Szene zu Szene und Dialog zu Dialog gehetzt. Ich habe es selten erlebt, dass Charakteren so viel Freiraum zur Entwicklung gegeben wurde, die (scheinbar) nichts mit dem Mainplot zu tun hat. Zu den beiden Hauptdarstellern muss ich mich denke ich nicht weiter äußern, das haben andere Rezensenten schon zu Genüge getan - Weltklasse. Kleiner Tipp: Unbedingt im O-Ton anschauen, auch wenn es anstrengend ist. Ich selbst habe zwei Jahre im englischsprachigen Raum gelebt und spreche auch fließend Englisch - trotzdem musste ich die Untertitel anschalten, der Südstaatenakzent ist teilweise sehr schwer zu verstehen, besonders von Matthew McConaughey, der sich viel zusammenmurmelt. Die Bildkompositionen sind fantastisch, die angeschnitten Motive und Themen aktuell. Und Fans der klassischen Horrorliteratur von Robert W. Chambers werden hier und da große Augen und Ohren bekommen. Es steckt eine Menge Mystik und Weird Fiction in der Storyline - doch nie direkt, sondern nur angedeutet. Die Atmosphäre ist dicht, Dialoge unglaublich gut geschrieben und lebensnah, die philosophischen Themen drückend und schwer. Es ist immer wieder Schade, dass ich beim Einschalten des Fernsehers, oder sagen wir wenn ich ihn denn überhaupt noch einschalten würde, zu 95 % der Zeit ein Programm für Minderbemittelte läuft, das weder Niveau noch in irgendeiner Weise einen künstlerischen Anspruch hat. Ob Fernsehen, Kino, Buch oder gar Computerspiel - die heutigen Unterhaltungsmedien sind nicht nur Zeitvertreib, sondern auf lange Zeit auch kulturgebend. Wollen wir eine Kultur sein, die sich mit "Berlin Tag und Nacht", "Dschungelcamp" und "GZSZ" identifiziert, oder können wir auch mal über den Tellerrand schauen? Eine Folge True Detective hat mehr Substanz als ein Jahr Standardfernsehn. Es lohnt sich! Gebt der intelligenten Unterhaltung eine Chance... True Detective.

La prima stagione di questa serie è favolosa! Il copione è uno dei più intelligenti e "colti" per una serie tv che abbia mai visto. I due protagonisti sono stellari, difficile dire chi dei due è più bravo. E' importantissimo vederlo in originale perché gli accenti sono fondamentali ai fini della storia. Lo consiglio a chi ama storie intriganti, con un grande supporto di psicologia e sociologia. Lo sconsiglio a chi si impressiona facilmente, perché questa storia non è per stomaci delicati. Massimo punteggio!