In a career spanning over three decades, Joel Kinnaman has played myriad roles on the big and small screens. While he is best known for his parts in Suicide Squad and RoboCop, the actor has gained a new wave of popularity for his small-screen roles in shows like For All Mankind. A few years ago, he even played the lead in a gripping cyberpunk series on Netflix.
Interestingly, a new Netflix crime thriller marks his return to the small screen and gives him the perfect follow-up to his previous cyberpunk role.
Joel Kinnaman’s Villain Role In Detective Hole Is The Perfect Evolution To Altered Carbon’s Takeshi Kovacs
Altered Carbon and Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole on Netflix are two significantly different shows. Apart from the fact that both are based on books, the only common link between them is Joel Kinnaman. However, despite belonging to distinct genres, the two shows almost feel like companion pieces because of how Kinnaman captures his characters in both.
After watching Altered Carbon, it becomes hard not to notice how his detective character in the Netflix crime thriller is almost an “evolution” of Takeshi Kovacs.
In Altered Carbon, Kovacs is portrayed as a complex anti-hero who despises the class divides in his cyberpunk world. Owing to this, to bring a semblance of fairness to his world, he does not hold himself back from resorting to violence when he believes it serves a greater purpose. While his methods are often brutal and morally ambiguous, they stem from a deeply ingrained sense of justice shaped by his past.
Altered Carbon also drifts back and forth between being a high-concept sci-fi drama and a gripping noir thriller throughout its runtime. While Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole has little to no sci-fi elements, it is also a compelling crime thriller that features Joel Kinnaman as a complex detective character.
Unlike Takeshi Kovacs from Altered Carbon, Tom Waaler in Detective Hole goes to extreme lengths to preserve his power and conceal his crimes. He initially seems to have a few redeemable traits, but they are often overshadowed by his darker tendencies.
Ultimately, even though Tom Waaler seems to have the potential to become a morally righteous character, he fails to redeem himself and comes off as the perfect evolution of Takeshi Kovacs’ anti-heroic traits.
Joel Kinnaman Steals The Show In Both Netflix Shows
Even to this day, Netflix’s Altered Carbon is remembered as one of the best small screen takes on the cyberpunk subgenre. The show has two seasons, but its first installment is considered far superior to the second. One of the biggest reasons why season 1 seems so much better than its follow-up is that Joel Kinnaman serves as its lead.
Throughout Altered Carbon season 1’s runtime, Joel Kinnaman perfectly captures his character’s quiet intensity. His dialogs are limited, but his screen presence is enough to display Kovacs’ frustration towards the world he lives in.
Joel Kinnaman does not play the titular detective in Netflix’s Detective Hole. Instead, he serves more as the primary antagonist. Despite this, he steals the show every time he shows up on the screen. He delivers such an incredible performance that it becomes hard not to look forward to his sequences in the series.
While Altered Carbon and Detective Hole on Netflix are still two very distinct shows, fans of one should definitely watch the other two get a glimpse of Joel Kinnaman‘s incredible range as an actor.