Originally posted by Digital Spy

A cynical, dark thriller with a marshmallow centre, Veronica Mars is both a labour of love for a legion of fans, and the kind of shrewd, focused, character-driven mystery that has become an endangered species on the big screen.

The new Veronica Mars is more muted and less quippy than its younger self, but the series was always steeped in darkness and every twist here feels in keeping. The Neptune police department has gone from incompetent to deeply corrupt, leaving the town in a state that borders on post-apocalyptic – and Veronica courting a corporate gig in Manhattan feels designed to leave fans longing for her to shirk authority and expose institutional hypocrisy like the good old days.

The film plays well as a smart, dark murder mystery in its own right. Bell is engaging and charismatic as she ever was as a mellowed out but still steely Veronica, and Thomas ensures no prior knowledge is required for the newly converted. An extended high school reunion sequence features familiar faces and nods to canon aplenty but works primarily as plot development, and sees former outcast Veronica publicly humiliated in a manner that harks back to all the show's richest themes.

stars: 4/5