TV: Hot but entirely predictable action from maverick PIs

By FRANCES GRANT

Why would a handsome American man with money to match his considerable charm jump to his death from the roof of an Auckland parking building?

It sounds like a case for those good-looking, but woefully underemployed, private investigators John Lawless (Kevin Smith) and Jodie Keane (Angela Dotchin).

The mavericks (he was a maverick cop, if you recall, and she was a maverick police administrator until they left the force to become maverick private investigators together) have finally set up their own downtown firm in this, the third Lawless telefeature.

Lawless - Beyond Justice opens with not much happening by way of business.

"Saturday night in the big city," sighs Keane during a routine stakeout. "Aren't we tragic?"

The tragedy factor could be why Lawless has trouble controlling his fists when their quarry finally appears.

According to the publicity blurb for the show, Lawless has a couple of lessons to learn in this third instalment:

1. That reacting to violence with violence is not a good way of dealing with violence.

2. That it is time for him to get over being burned in love and to learn to open his heart again to a woman (an action which happily requires shirt removal to show off Smith's finest onscreen attributes).

A candidate for romance soon appears in the form of the dead man's spurned wife, a good-lookin' and worldly American woman (American guest star Jennifer Rubin), who is convincingly heartsore over the loss of her errant man but also given to surprising outbreaks of vicious, don't-cross-me attitude.

It's obviously a combination Lawless can't resist and pretty soon he has both employment and a hot new lover - a situation which puts "boss" Keane's nose out of joint.

But while the brawn's tied up in bed, so to speak, the brains of the outfit gets the lion's share of the detective work.

Keane's sleuthing leads to a nightclub (which happily requires Dotchin to don a skimpy, body-hugging sequined number) and, of course, to a sleazy underworld of drugs, rape and internet porn.

This gumshoe drama insists on following the stock moves, making it easy for viewers to spot the villains: they are bald and/or have tattoos.

While Lawless is busy researching with his American lover, Keane is busy following up leads with the dim and drooling Andy (Bruce Hopkins), whose main role seems to be to make lascivious comments about her body.

The resourceful Keane manages to fix him up, however, with a nice German shepherd.

That Keane and Lawless pursue separate lines of investigation in this third outing is probably just as well.

Not only is there a glaring physical mismatch between them (the diminutive Dotchin looks even tinier next to Smith), but the pair also struggle to convey the chemistry that supposedly exists between them.

That aside, like its local drama cousin Street Legal, Lawless manages to give Auckland an exciting big city look, which is mildly cheering if you happen to live there and like to think you're living somewhere groovy.

There's also plenty of action. The fight scenes result in realistic and, it must be said, some distinctly unglamorous-looking injuries. And, just when the plot is really beginning to pall, there is a nice big explosion.

One for loyal followers of New Zealand drama.

* Lawless - Beyond Justice, TV2, 8.30 pm