'RED RIDING': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Three part UK TV adaptation of author David Peace's quartet of books published from 1999 to 2002. The stories center around serial murders, missing children and most prominently police corruption. They feature several recurring characters which play minor supporting parts in some chapters and much bigger and more developed roles in others. The cast features the likes of Andrew Garfield, David Morrissey, Paddy Considine, Mark Addy, Sean Bean, Rebecca Hall and many others. The films were written by Tony Grisoni and directed by Julian Jarrold, James Marsh and Anand Tucker (each directing an individual chapter). They were released on UK television in March 2009 and theatrically in the US in February of 2010.
The films are each titled 'RED RIDING: IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD...' and the year that each chapter is set in (1974, 1980 and 1983, they exclude the second book set in 1977). The first film stars Garfield as an arrogant reporter, named Eddie Dunford, who takes on an assignment for the Yorkshire Post investigating the disappearance of missing girls. He butts heads with a local businessman, named John Dawson (Bean), as well as the dirty police Dawson's involved with. He escalates his investigation to dangerous levels that eventually put his life as well as others close to him in danger. The second chapter centers around a police officer, named Peter Hunter (Considine), assigned to head up the Yorkshire Ripper murders investigation. Flashbacks are drawn to the first film, which help further explain it as well as this installment, and the story again all revolves around corrupt officers of the law which Hunter of course comes into conflict with. The final episode revolves around a supporting player from the first two films named Maurice Jobson (Morrissey), a corrupt police officer who has to deal greatly with his conscience, in this chapter, for his involvement in the crimes from previous episodes. It also focuses on a naive public solicitor (Addy) who comes to the defense of a wrongfully convicted mentally handicap young man (from previous story-lines).
The films jump around a lot from present day to flashbacks without explanation, which make them very hard to differentiate (at least at first). They also move between several different story-lines rapidly and from key characters to others frequently without taking the time to allow the viewer to adjust. Besides these flaws the audio is horrible, making a large amount of dialogue very hard to comprehend, and the pacing is sometimes almost non existent. As you can tell the films are far from perfect and often leave the viewer lost, bored (as a result) and aggravated. Despite this they are beautifully shot, compelling at times and involving to a certain extent. They'll leave many desiring repeat viewings (multiple I'm sure, just to fully understand them) which is a compliment, even though they brought on the urge for this desire to begin with. Even when you don't know what's going on (which is very frequently) you can tell that it's something that could be very interesting and entertaining. There's a lot of potential here for some great entertainment but it's obviously poorly handled on so many different levels. A truly great missed opportunity.
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS7EjRs-tOE
Three part UK TV adaptation of author David Peace's quartet of books published from 1999 to 2002. The stories center around serial murders, missing children and most prominently police corruption. They feature several recurring characters which play minor supporting parts in some chapters and much bigger and more developed roles in others. The cast features the likes of Andrew Garfield, David Morrissey, Paddy Considine, Mark Addy, Sean Bean, Rebecca Hall and many others. The films were written by Tony Grisoni and directed by Julian Jarrold, James Marsh and Anand Tucker (each directing an individual chapter). They were released on UK television in March 2009 and theatrically in the US in February of 2010.
The films are each titled 'RED RIDING: IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD...' and the year that each chapter is set in (1974, 1980 and 1983, they exclude the second book set in 1977). The first film stars Garfield as an arrogant reporter, named Eddie Dunford, who takes on an assignment for the Yorkshire Post investigating the disappearance of missing girls. He butts heads with a local businessman, named John Dawson (Bean), as well as the dirty police Dawson's involved with. He escalates his investigation to dangerous levels that eventually put his life as well as others close to him in danger. The second chapter centers around a police officer, named Peter Hunter (Considine), assigned to head up the Yorkshire Ripper murders investigation. Flashbacks are drawn to the first film, which help further explain it as well as this installment, and the story again all revolves around corrupt officers of the law which Hunter of course comes into conflict with. The final episode revolves around a supporting player from the first two films named Maurice Jobson (Morrissey), a corrupt police officer who has to deal greatly with his conscience, in this chapter, for his involvement in the crimes from previous episodes. It also focuses on a naive public solicitor (Addy) who comes to the defense of a wrongfully convicted mentally handicap young man (from previous story-lines).
The films jump around a lot from present day to flashbacks without explanation, which make them very hard to differentiate (at least at first). They also move between several different story-lines rapidly and from key characters to others frequently without taking the time to allow the viewer to adjust. Besides these flaws the audio is horrible, making a large amount of dialogue very hard to comprehend, and the pacing is sometimes almost non existent. As you can tell the films are far from perfect and often leave the viewer lost, bored (as a result) and aggravated. Despite this they are beautifully shot, compelling at times and involving to a certain extent. They'll leave many desiring repeat viewings (multiple I'm sure, just to fully understand them) which is a compliment, even though they brought on the urge for this desire to begin with. Even when you don't know what's going on (which is very frequently) you can tell that it's something that could be very interesting and entertaining. There's a lot of potential here for some great entertainment but it's obviously poorly handled on so many different levels. A truly great missed opportunity.
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS7EjRs-tOE