Fortitude - The Complete First Season - Blu-Ray

Film: Life in the 800-person settlement of Fortitude on Spitsbergen has been quiet, almost tranquil. Tragic events such as the death of geologist Billy Pettigrew, who was attacked by a polar bear and saved from further agony by photographer Henry Tyson (Michael Gambon) with a well-aimed shot, occur but are the exception. But then a grisly murder rocks the small community: scientist and environmentalist Charlie Stoddart (Christopher Eccleston) is brutally murdered in his home. As the local police seem overwhelmed with solving this crime, investigator Eugene Morton (Stanley Tucci) is sent from London to assist police chief Dan Anderssen (Richard Dormer) and his team. But Morton quickly learns that strangers are not at all welcome in Fortitude - especially not when they stick their noses into the private affairs of the residents. But the case is taking on more and more sinister proportions. Does Stoddart's murder have anything to do with a mammoth skeleton found on the glacier where Governor Hildur Odegard (Sofie Gråbøl) wants to build a hotel to attract more tourists to Fortitude? And why are some residents suddenly exhibiting such strange, aggressive behavior?

Fortitude is a gripping mix of drama, thriller and mystery. It was filmed in Iceland, which provides a fascinating backdrop for the mysterious story. Series creator Simon Donald seems to have looked to many Scandinavian crime thrillers, a few episodes of The X-Files, the cult series Twin Peaks and John Carpenter's The Thing From Another World for inspiration and thrown some of his favourite elements from these into a blender. The result is a somewhat strange, but from episode to episode more and more exciting mixture, which lives especially from its very own atmosphere.

The imagery of the series can simply be described as mesmerizing. On the one hand, the landscape around the fictional location is breathtakingly beautiful, but on the other hand, it also radiates a gloomy threat, which then also constitutes the basic tone of the series. The different storylines seem a bit confusing at first, but converge more and more clearly towards the end and then result in a coherent overall picture, which makes you want to watch season 2, despite some clarification. But the reason for this is also the excellent cast, among whom the as always great Stanley Tucci, Michael Dumbledore Gambon, Sofie Commissioner Lund Gråbøl and Richard Dormer especially stand out. Fortitude is a strong ensemble piece with almost no weak spots.

Over the course of the first season, there are a few minor lengths and dramaturgical hangs. But even here, the atmospherically dense production can make up for a lot. If you are captivated by the first episode, you will be hooked here very quickly. Those who have a hard time with the not so easy to understand dramaturgy and for whom the whole thing is just too gloomy, on the other hand, will have difficulties to want to stay on the ball during the many quieter moments of character development. But in the end, the positive aspects clearly outweigh the negative and even if Fortitude is not quite a masterpiece, Simon Donald has succeeded in creating an exciting and extremely rousing piece of genre television that is absolutely worth watching for mystery fans!

Picture + Sound: A high image sharpness, atmospheric coloring and harmonious contrasts make the absolutely clean image of the Blu-ray a real pleasure. The breathtaking scenery of Iceland in particular is shown off to great effect as a result. The audio has some very nice sound effects to offer, which come across well in the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. But overall, the action is dominated by the dialogue, the understated music, and some atmospheric ambient sounds like the whistling of the wind or the crunching of the snow. Overall, both the picture and the sound help capture the very special atmosphere of this series. Good!

Extras: It sounds very attractive when you read that the double Blu-ray has 12 featurettes to offer as bonus material. However, disillusionment sets in when you realise that these short documentaries have a total running time of just 23 minutes. This is a shame in that they are really extremely interesting in terms of content. Especially the featurettes about the shooting in Iceland (ca. 2:08 min.), the sets (ca. 2:51 min.) or about the snow (ca. 2:06 min.), which was artificially produced, because during the shooting there was the warmest winter of all times, are absolutely worth seeing and could have used a bit more volume. Nevertheless: even if the featurettes are too short and lack an all play function - which is a bit annoying in the long run - all 12 clips are really good and absolutely worth watching!

Conclusion: Fortitude is a gripping mix of drama, thriller and mystery. The atmospheric locations, international cast and surprising plot twists make this first season quite enjoyable, despite a few dramaturgical hangs. The Blu-ray presents the ten episodes in appealing picture and sound quality. The extras are interesting, but unfortunately too short. Overall, there is for this set a very clear: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp