The Swedish-Danish serial detective "Bridge", which premiered in 2011, currently has a number of adaptations, including an American one. In 2016, domestic filmmakers announced the start of production of the Russian version of The Bridge, starring M. Porechenkov and I. Dapkunaite.
Original
In the fall of 2011, the detective series "Bridge" was shown simultaneously in Sweden and Denmark. The project of joint production of two European countries immediately gained a lot of fans, received extremely favorable reviews from film critics and the highest IMDb rating for a television product: 8.60. Reviews of the series “Bridge” were especially noted by well-placed plot accents, storytelling intrigue and fascinating branches.
The story begins with the discovery of a corpse on the Öresund bridge, on which the state border of the two aforementioned powers passes. The investigation is taken by a cop from Copenhagen and his colleague from Malmö. The television film has become one of the most atmospheric European crime series in which the detective line is feverish imagination, and the characters are revealed from an unforeseen side. For this series “Bridge” reviews about the film received enthusiastic.
Not stopping there
The authors, not stopping there, decided to challenge the first season of their brainchild and presented to the public a follow-up - the second season, which, according to experts, is not inferior to the original. The continuation narrative resembles a run through a maze of passions, social norms, morality, and rules.
The second season, which continued the series "Bridge", received no less admired reviews. According to reviewers, the characters showed new character traits, their actions became unpredictable for the viewer, who, as it seemed, had already figured out all the psychological subtleties of the characters. The new detective component is not inferior to the passions, it, like in the first season, is very branchy, tricky to invent and saturated with incredibly sharp turns. The undoubted advantage of the Scandinavian project is the emphasis on the vices and ulcers of modern society.
In the third season, a new protagonist comes to the series, which takes the place of a partner of the beloved public of the main character. Therefore, the series "Bridge" reviews about the third season has been controversial. Many authors did not accept the change and tried in every way to emphasize the shortcomings of the continuation. Nevertheless, the latest series have proved to all fans that a new series of murders, new relationships between the main characters have benefited the project. And in general, the third season is the same “Bridge”, only more cruel and gloomy, Scandinavian cold.
Two remakes
It is unlikely that starting the production of a film about the cooperation of the police of the two states, the television crews of Sweden and Denmark counted on the worldwide popularity of their offspring. Two years later, from the premiere of the Bridge, two adapted remakes burst into the world television space - the European one, in which the English Channel tunnel was at the epicenter of the bloody events, and the American one, where the action began on the border between Mexico and the United States. Not a single project, according to the opinion of authoritative figures in the cinema, even taking into account successful casting and original plot finds, has managed to surpass the original. The followers remained secondary.
American Adaptation
The American series "Bridge" reviews are already quite restrained, although its rating is very weighty - IMDb: 7.70. Perhaps the creators of adaptation did not take into account that the combination of American and Mexican cultures and mentalities is too explosive a mixture.
The Scandinavian “Bridge”, in addition to the story of the murder investigation, covered a significant layer of social problems relevant to modern European society. For US TV people, everything is many times simpler - problems that are so vividly pictured in the original, they are outlined only dotted. But the question of an increased level of crime and social inequality in Mexico comes to the forefront. As a result, the sensible cold atmosphere that distinguishes the Swedish-Danish “Bridge” disappears, the project turned out to be a typically American product, and not of the highest level. The creators of the adaptation, it would seem, took all the best from the original, but in the end they got the series “Bridge” (confirmation of that) that turned out to be much less interesting and exciting.
Russian version
Most recently, the premiere of the action-packed Russian television movie "Bridge" took place, which is the third attempt to adapt the sensational Scandinavian project after the American and French-British ones. The series "Bridge" (Russia) received favorable reviews, which allowed the creators not to postpone the production of the second season.
The first 20 episodes take place on the border of Estonia and Russia. The police officer of the Russian Federation Maxim Kazantsev (M. Porechenkov) and the representative of Estonian law enforcement bodies Inga Veermaa (I. Dapkunaite) begin to investigate the murder. In the second season, the filming process of which began in the summer of 2017, the same main characters will meet again during the confrontation with a mysterious maniac who calls himself an installer.