CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Grave Danger (2005)

CSI: Grave Danger (2005)

Dir. Quentin Tarantino | Season 05, Episodes 24 + 25

I don't usually watch Crime Scene Investigation, it's not the kind of police/crime drama that I enjoy, but I made an exception for the Grave Danger episodes because they were directed by Quentin Tarantino. I'm not a QT fan-boy, either, but I was curious to see if he could make me care about a show that I otherwise disliked.

The short answer is no, he didn't, but it was okay overall and the level of bullshit coincidences and deux ex machinas wasn't as overblown as I feared it would be – that is, once it was explained to me by an actual CSI fan that one of the characters had a specialised interest in something that was instrumental in the team solving the case.

I don't know if the regular characters were respected and/or faithful to how they usually are in the standard weekly episodes, but anyone familiar with the director's work will be able to spot his trademarks, such as the overly-staged scenes, the round the table dialogue, and people toying with guns while chatting; there's even a victim in the trunk of a car and a sly QT nod to other filmmakers (including Eli Roth and Lucio Fulchi, although classifying Roth as such is a kindness at best, a misnomer at worst).

Stupidly, despite getting a separate release and marketed to fans of a film director, the story is still presented in two parts when it would've made more sense to join them into one feature-length work. A cliff-hanger serves very little purpose when the next part is a button click away.

-Grissom can't believe it either.-

Bonus features on the R2 (PAL) disc include two other full episodes, namely CSI: Season 01 Episode 01 - Pilot; and CSI: Miami: Season 01 Episode 01 - Golden Parachute. I didn't watch them, so can't comment on whether they're any good or not.

To wrap up, watching Grave Danger didn't make me want to watch more of the series, but nor did I feel like I'd wasted the battered-up 50p it cost me to buy.