VOD Review: A Conspiracy of Faith (2016)

"The adventures of Carl Morck and Assad never disappoint."

Movies like this are why we love Scandi Thrillers so much.

The entire Department Q Trilogy has been a captivating, disturbing, and emotional journey to go on, and we're kind of sad to think that this may be the last entry for the story, and especially its characters. There are three more books in the series, but so far none of them are in development as films, and so we will hold out hope that every year or so they'll decide to give us a new adaptation to enjoy.

It's just a comfy, albeit disturbing world to explore for two hours, and we want more. 

After the events of The Absent One left him in an even more fragile mental state than usual, Carl Morck is on sick leave. The poor guy just gets closer and closer to cracking every day, and he's to the point now where he's so stressed out that he's even got the shakes. Lucky for him that his trusty partner Assad, along with their plucky assistant, Rose, are holding things down at Department Q while he's gone.

IN THIS SCENE, ASSAD SHOWS ROSE HIS FAVORITE PAGE FROM THE KAMA SUTRA. ROSE IS INTRIGUED.

When a message in a bottle washes up on the shore of a Jutland beach, Morck and Assad uncover a string of missing children that are somehow connected to a shadowy Religious Cult, which they immediately assume are Jehovah's Witnesses, because they are shadowy as fuck. We're pretty sure that it's got something to do with Pokemon Go too, but that's just a theory.

"QUICK KIDS, GET IN THE CAR... THERE'S A SQUIRTLE NEARBY!"

As always though, the truth is far more complicated than they first believe, and things get pretty dire and dark. Even Satanic. Will this be the case that finally breaks Carl Morck for good? Will Rose and Assad finally hook up? Will there ever be another movie in the Department Q series? Far be it from us to spoil anything for you here, but almost, no, and there had better be, or someone will pay!

"LOOK OUT, CARL!"

The thing about these movies is that at their core, they play pretty much like an episode of anything that bears the title of CSI or NCIS: they catch a case, there's some witty banter, things get hairy, and by the end, the killer is caught, and all is well. What keeps these movies from being as boring and routine as that type of lazy, predictable American crap though, are the lovable and complex characters, and the overall quality of storytelling that makes us genuinely care about them. Also, things get pretty disturbing and the story always seems to go to places that shake the audience up a bit, so that's a big difference too.

AND CAN WE JUST SAY THAT THE LOCATIONS ARE GORGEOUS? BECAUSE THEY ARE.

In A Conspiracy of Faith, the already hectic relationship between Assad and Morck is tested even further when Religion is brought into the picture. Where Assad is a man of faith, choosing to believe in something greater than himself, Carl doesn't believe in much of anything, and has no problem telling Assad what a fool he is because he does. The two are partners, and have become friends by this point, but that's mostly because Assad won't give up on Carl. It's ironic that the man's faith, that Carl decries at every turn, is the one thing that keeps their friendship going, and keeps the man from being totally alone and isolated. 

It's all really kind of beautiful, when you think about it.

Once again, the cast is fantastic in this one. Nikolaj Lie Kaas is more brooding and broken than ever as Carl Morck, and the man effortlessly pulled the emotion out of us with his performance. I can't believe that it took me three movies to realize that Fares Fares is also on a TV show called Tyrant that we watch every week. I'm usually quicker than that. In any case, it was great to see Assad become more of a forefront character in this one instead of just a loyal sidekick, which he kind of was in the first two movies.

ASSAD IS A RIDE OR DIE TYPE OF DUDE.

Some corpses, some stabbing, some gunshot wounds, and a particularly disturbing incident with some scissors... this one has its bloody moments.

I HOPE HE HAS SOME PEROXIDE.

There was a sex scene, but nothing salacious.

HANDS OFF THE KIDS, CREEPER!

The scene at the end in the church illustrates exactly why we've enjoyed these Department Q movies so much. We felt the emotion in a big way.

ALL THOSE FEELS.

We're so glad that we stumbled on this series of films, because they really satisfied the Scandi Noir fans inside of us. We're also really bummed because we've now watched all three of the films in the series, and have nothing new to discover in that world, at least on film. Maybe we can find some solace by reading the other three books for now...

As with its two predecessors, A Conspiracy of Faith is a solidly engaging movie that has some of the best characters that you'll likely find in films of this type, and if you haven't seen them yet, we say that you visit our VOD Release Dates Page, start at the beginning, and enjoy them all.

B+

A Conspiracy of Faith is available now on VOD.

The lovely ladies of A Conspiracy of Faith. More like A Conspiracy of Cuteness, am I right?