Matthew McConaughey & Woody Harrelson are on another scale / Credit: Jim Bridges & HBOTaking Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey and dropping them together in an eight part crime drama was always going to get people talking, and one has to wonder how strong a story HBO have with their new series 'True Detective' that led to both agreeing to take part in the lead roles.
Harrelson takes on the role of Martin Hart, now partners with McConaughey's Rustin Cohle; both of whom are detectives within the Louisiana State Police Criminal Investigation Division.
Together, the pair take on a murder case just a few months into their partnership when a naked woman's body is found kneeling next to a tree, bound and with a 'crown' made out of twigs and deer's antlers on her head.
Hart & Cohle work a big case / Credit: Jim Bridges & HBOAs time shifts between scenes back to the present day - where the two haven't spoken for ten years and are being questioned by the police - and to the past where we find out how their investigation developed, the scenes envelope the viewer, and at times you forget that what you're watching is a work of fiction.
The acting is of course in another league, and it was this that kept me gripped to the screen rather than the slow-moving pace of the first 30 minutes or so of scenes.
Laying out the foundations for the seven episodes to come, the first does a great job in giving glimpses of what will be explored in the future; the ongoing developing relationship of Hart and Cohle; life as a family with a murder detective at the head; and later life for a conflicted member of the force.
It's great to see Harrelson as one of the 'saner' characters in this series - we're used to his drunken state as Haymitch in The Hunger Games and quite cooky personality as Tallahassee in Zombieland - but here he's the one who's actually guiding McConaughey's character into some sense of normality.
Hart's a family man while Cohle seems to be a loose cannon / Credit: Jim Bridges & HBONot as intense as you'd imagine, some scenes may leave you feeling a little grim, but on the whole it's a slow burner that lays out the foundations for the rest of the series - steady and sturdy with a strong sense of identity and knowing which direction it's heading.
Without giving away too much, the final minute or so point us in the direction we'll be heading, and it looks to be an engrossing seven hours ahead.
True Detective continues on Sky Atlantic and Sky Atlantic HD, Saturday March 1 at 9pm.
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