Winter Ridge

Formulaic tripe. Skip it. It's a ridiculous amount of conventional stereotypes that make zero sense.

I disagree with the descenters as being a stupid film, the writing purpose was to focus on relationships, so if your looking for adventure/action this is not your film.

Am a big fan of mystery thrillers, have been for a long time and the Brits have often done them brilliantly. Love the setting, which is so beautiful and evokes a lot of nostalgia within me. Also 'Winter Ridge' had a really good idea for a story. So there were more than enough reasons to see 'Winter Ridge' regardless of its polarising critical reception, which did admittedly slightly lower moderate expectations.

Seeing 'Winter Ridge', my feelings are somewhat mixed, feelings of finding it thankfully better than had been said by several while feeling a little disappointed too. Am not going to be one of those passionately defending the film, there are faults here and quite big ones. Am also not going to be one panning the film because there are good points as well and enough to make the film watchable.

The best asset of 'Winter Ridge' is the production values. Especially the locations, which are both beautiful and atmospheric. Frequently holiday in the Devon area visiting grandparents so there was a lot of nostalgia filling up inside me. The film is stylishly shot too, lots of class on this front, and the editing is cohesive at least. The music is haunting enough, being neither too low key or too intrusive. 'Winter Ridge' also starts off unsettlingly and suspensefully, indicating a lot of promise.

On the most part the acting is better than average, with the most emotionally committed performances coming from Ian Pririe and Hannah Waddingham. The human drama elements fare much better than the mystery ones, there is some genuine heart, complex and mature themes are handled tactfully and the character relationships while not illuminating make sense and worth investing in. The characters didn't bore or annoy me at least and there are far worse cases in film, and anywhere in fact, of irritational and illogical decision making and vague motivations.

'Winter Ridge' however did disappoint in other areas. Matt Hookings doesn't really convince in the lead role, somehow he didn't seem comfortable and dramatically and emotionally he came over as rather inert. The direction is uneven, never incompetent but there are unsure and plodding moments (too many of them unfortunately).

Despite a promising start, 'Winter Ridge' quickly and too early on goes downhill. The mystery/thriller element contains few surprises, very easy to figure out and severely lacking in twists and turns to keep one guessing, and just feels too simple and like a generic mystery/thriller film on Lifetime. The pacing badly plods, so the film drags a lot and feels longer than it actually is, and it just feels bland and stiff with some daft moments too that one has to seriously refrain from laughing. The dialogue should have been much tighter and the flow doesn't feel natural, while the ending is so absurd it takes one out of the film.

Concluding, watchable but there was definitely a much better film in there somewhere. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Oh my. I never really like to be negative, but this was bad. I did almost watch until the end, but it was a slow build up to a predictable conclusion and so i just switched it off.

The acting was almost embarrassing, had it not been for a couple of bit parts who I felt sorry for as I had no idea why they had let themselves be part of the production. I was constantly waiting for the film to pick up and the slow, drama-class wooden acting, with too long pauses in the script did not help. Maybe it was the direction.

It reminded me of a tense crime drama on the television, but without any sense of tension or drama and the crime was pretty weak in its portrayal.

I just feel bad for those involved.

The likes of TV shows and movies such as Midsomer Murders, Miss Marple and more recently Broadchurch and Beast have proven that being a resident of an aesthetically perfect British town is severely detrimental to your health.

The same applies to Dom Lenoir's Winter Ridge, in which a serial killer who is targeting the elderly is on the loose in a picturesque seaside village. Detective Ryan Barnes and his newcomer partner Tom Harris are tasked with solving the case, but Ryan is struggling to come to terms with a personal trauma happening at the same time. His wife is in a coma after a car crash and it's looking unlikely that she will ever fully recover.

As the investigation comes to a head, Barnes is forced to accept that there are parallels between his own wife and the victims, causing him to question his moral beliefs. As he desperately searches for the culprit, Barnes' doubts increase; do the suggested motives of the crimes fit the killer he is chasing?

Matt Hookings leads the cast as Detective Ryan Barnes, a man whose proverbial plate is fuller than customers at an all-you-can-eat buffet. His performance is passable, but I felt he's been asked to vary his emotions far too much and instead settles for a middle ground of blank neutrality. There's the occasional outburst or scene of sorrow, but they're not quite convincing enough to impress. Still, it's a promising turn from Hookings in his first headlining production.

The standout performances here though are undoubtedly those of Ian Pirie and Hannah Waddingham. Pirie is ferocious as the troubled town drunk Mike Evans and continues his outstanding run of performances after starring in the menacing Netflix thriller Calibre. Waddingham is on the other end of the emotional scale as caring grief councillor Joanne Hill, and plays a large part in the success of the deeper themes that run through Winter Ridge.

On the surface, the film appears to be a straightforward serial killer thriller, but by the end there are some pressing questions asked and points raised about mental health, loneliness and isolation. These mainly come from Barnes' interactions with veteran performer Alan Ford (Snatch, Cockneys vs. Zombies and the definitely innocent gangster on Alan Partridge's Knowing Me, Knowing You) as ailing Dale Jacobs. It doesn't do much to answer them, and disappointingly the importance of them are largely diluted by its exaggerated conclusion, but it's respectable of screenwriter Ross Owen Williams to shed light on these topics.

Winter Ridge shines more in the moments of heartfelt drama between Barnes and his wife or the elderly residents than it does when trying to be thrilling. I found the chase scenes to be unnecessary and didn't fit with the rest of the film's tone. This is especially distracting in one scene where the two detectives pursue a suspect, alone, all guns blazing. I know it's fictional, but something about seeing British detectives holding pistols and flashlights as if they were in an episode of CSI didn't sit right with me.

I would've liked to see an attempt at more of an actual investigation in its place. Save for the standard drawing pin board of newspaper articles and a few coroner reports, the detectives jump from one lead to another, usually finding exactly what they're after. It doesn't help that the village seems to only have about four people living there, including the police officers and one of the most lenient Captains in the country who pretty much lets the duo do what they like as long as they aren't bothering him. If they do, it's a stern ticking off with no lasting repercussions. Understandable though; if the pair are fired, or at the very least suspended, there's absolutely no one in the village to replace them.

Nevertheless, a few strong performances and thought-provoking themes make Winter Ridge worth a visit, even if it's just a passing one.