The Battle – My Dad is a Detective: The Battle (2012)

Directed by: Will Wissink | 82 minutes | family | Actors: Tjeerd Melchers, Rick Mackenbach, Jasmin Pasteuning, Tara Hetharia, Cees Geel, Ellen ten Damme, Beau van Erven Dorens, Jeronimo van Ballegoijen, Camilla Siegertsz, Loek Peters, Sanne Vogel, Frank Awick, Cynthia Abma, Jon Karthaus, Stephan Evenblij , Dean Saunders, Pearl Jozefzoon, Charly Prick, John van den Heuvel

An escaped convict bent on revenge, a resulting attempt on someone’s life, a talent show, a first love that clashes violently with older friendships, a love found again, an ever-absent parent, a miscommunicating parent, a demanding grandparent, a pregnant, always hungry cop… There are quite a few balls that filmmakers duo Will Wissink and Zebi Damen want to keep in the air in ‘The Battle’, part three in the series ‘My father is a detective’. That the merging of all those different characters with their problems does not lead to a satisfactory result is not really a surprise. Making a good film is a struggle…

The consequence of so many storylines is that too much has to be done in too short a time and that the credibility deteriorates as a result. In ‘The Battle’, problems are created as quickly as they are solved. Amateurishly overpowering a bunch of armed thugs is as easy as resolving a family affair that has been dormant for years. In no time and without too many rehearsals, Mara changes from a somewhat timid singing girl into a rock chick with a great repertoire. And suddenly Ortwin appears to have a very good singing voice.

Admittedly, after two films, it is almost a pleasant reunion with Sam, Ortwin, Sterre, Max, Femke and Mara, to whom the umbrella title of the series also applies since the surprising end of ‘De law van 3’. But that has more to do with recognition – it’s nice to see the youngsters grow up in the series, à la ‘Harry Potter’ – than that we have actually started to care about the characters. This is further underlined by one of the main characters, who at one point lists the characteristics of another character in the film. Nowhere does the viewer have the idea that that description is indeed correct, because the character has never really come to life. They remain paper figures, whose actions and reactions are caused by the sentences in the screenplay, not because you expect them to.

It is actually contradictory that ‘The Battle’ wants to convey that fame should never be at the expense of family and friends, but that it makes the most impression in the scenes with the performances. A lot of attention has been paid to the music and the scenes that take place on stage look slick. What also argues for the film is the credible, non-cliche settlement of the storyline surrounding the talent show.

‘The Battle’ is a part three that can stand on its own, although it can’t hurt to watch ‘MVIED: The mysterious fortress island’ and ‘MVIED: The law of 3’ for background information. ‘The Battle’ is mainly intended for children in the upper years and young teenagers, whereby the growing fan base of singer Jeronimo should certainly not skip the film. But they can also safely wait until the film is available in the living rooms.