Actualités

Already the highest-grossing Danish film ever — with each of its predecessors following closely behind — “The Purity of Vengeance” is the fourth adaptation of Jussi Adler-Olsen’s hugely popular “Department Q” novels about a Copenhagen cold-case police unit. It will also be the last in this particular series, as the screen rights have now transferred from Zentropa to Nordisk, with any future “Q” movies unlikely to retain the same cast or behind-scenes staples.

However lamented that baton-passing may be, there’s not much room for sentimental reflection in this high-gloss thriller, which is undeniably entertaining yet whose pleasures have the guilty edge of a particularly lurid airport read. The modern Scandinavian mysteries that have swept the globe (led by Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium” books) often have a heart-of-darkness willingness to address social and historical wrongs. But here, hot-button issues of anti-immigrant prejudice, forced sterilization, sexual abuse and more feel reduced to...