The Red Riding Trilogy: 1983

The last part of the "Red Riding"-Trilogy (I'm assuming you have seen the other two at least), this concludes the story. The real main player here, was a side player in the previous ones (though he did have more to "say" than we might have guessed in those movies). The second guy who has a main role, is a solicitor. And while he is reluctant at first, he seems to get his head around to become more involved.

But again as with the other characters throughout the series, there are no real likable characters at hand here. Someone called this an adult approach to the thriller genre. You have to figure out, how you feel about that, of course. You might find it dreadful. On the other hand, this is a great thriller. It just needs it's time to unfold. And all the loose points get together at last ... Though some might be disappointed at what we get served ... I personally still feel, that the first movie was the strongest.

The seemingly untouchable, corrupt West Yorkshire police, and the true evil mastermind behind the child abductions and murders of the last 14 years, can't resist doing it again. "Red Riding: 1983" sets the story that another young girl has vanished from the same area, nine years earlier. "Red Riding: 1983" cycles back to the terrible events set in motion in "Red Riding: 1974", when a series of young girls went missing and a mentally retarded man, Michael Myshkin (Mays), was wrongfully convicted for the crime. Detective Inspector Maurice Jobson (Morrissey), a regular if mostly background character in the first two films, becomes our first focal point here as a man deeply wrecked by his complicity in the Yorkshire Constabulary's general lawlessness.

In 1983, another young girl disappears, and Jobson decides to do some actual police work--and reopening several old cases his colleagues would prefer to keep closed--and sniffing around the likes of series constant Rev. Lawes (Mullan, with the omniscience and eerie stillness of a very dark angel). Simultaneously, in the trilogy's first dual narrative, another lead emerges in the form of John Piggott (Addy), a sad-sack solicitor and Yorkshire native who reluctantly agrees to file an appeal on behalf of Myshkin. Piggott marks the trilogy's most uncomplicated hero.

It may come as a surprise that the ending of "Red Riding: 1983" adds a dose of hope to its brackish main course. "Red Riding: 1983" provides a fitting conclusion to a whole that is, in some ways, greater than the sum of its parts." Red Riding" is an effective crime thriller, but it's an even more striking drama about the dark parts of the human soul and man's capacity for inhumanity. The third movie represents the middle ground between the promising-but-uneven" Red Riding: 1974" and its sequel, the shocking and haunting "Red Riding:1980." This time around, there's less in the way of a stand- alone narrative as screenwriter Tony Grisoni, working from the novel by David Peace, stitches closed various plot holes. The finale doesn't answer all of our question, but it provides a sense of closure and clears up a number of nagging questions left over from the previous two segments.

What we can take away from all of this is not just an investigation into a series of child murders. This is an in-depth character study of three (or four) main protagonists--as they slowly unfold a ring of corruption surrounding an era of a very specific locale of the UK. As things get "hairy" within each of our main characters' worlds, rather than dig deeper into the case, they instead spend three quarters of the running time of each film digging deeper into their own psych--and begin to like what they see in themselves less and less.

This third part of the mini series presents once more a different genre with this very insightful and philosophical conclusion. The movie is less darker and brutal than the first two ones and talks more about hope than desperation. The movie talks about moral, forgiveness and remorse and presents once more a few new and profound characters.

The movie has three main actors and begins with the fact that another young girl has been kidnapped nine years after the last murder.

The remorseful cop Maurice Jobson, played by the brilliant David Morissey, wants to stop the insanity and begins to question the corruption, the violence and lies within the police. He falls in love with a clairvoyant and wants to save the kidnapped girl with her while his partners try to find a scapegoat for the new crime. He realizes that he has done some mistakes in his life and wants to change. He is now looking for forgiveness, truth and justice.

The second main character is the fat and disillusioned lawyer John Piggott, played in a rather mediocre way by Mark Addy, whose father was one of the corrupt police officers that has been killed in mysterious circumstances, helps after much hesitation the mothers of the two scapegoats that are or have to go to prison for crimes they didn't commit.

The third main character is the young and homosexual BJ, brilliantly played by Robert Sheehan, who has escaped from Torkshire and travels around the country to come back for a last act of vengeance.

All those three characters come together in a grand finale. But before this conclusion, the story meanders back and forth through space and time and creates connections to the first two movies and even new connections beyond that. Those scenes help to create once more some very diversified and profound characters but it is sometimes difficult to follow this pattern and to understand what is happening right now or in the past. There are many flashbacks and changes of space and time in the movie and that makes it less dynamical and intense to watch than the first two ones. The strong point of the movie are the interesting characters and the fact that many points are explained and many questions are answered to that haven't been before.

But I still felt disappointed about the conclusion. It seems too simple to me and I would have liked to have some more original explications, for example concerning the connection of the businessman Dawson to the murders.

Because of the conclusion and less intense atmosphere, this third part is the weakest one of the series in my opinion. But I still gave seven stars because of the interesting characters and the fact that almost everything is explained in the conclusion of the movie. The philosophical style of this movie is very interesting but I preferred the drama style of the second or the first movie that was a great film noir and my favourite part of the series.

All in all, this trilogy is interesting to watch and really presents three different kinds of a movie and creates connections in between them in an interesting way. Artistically, those series are really well done and most of the actors did an amazing job. But there is a lack of suspense in this slow paced series and the criminal investigations are rather boring. It was a good idea to watch the series, but honestly, I wouldn't but it or watch it again for a while.

1974: 7,5 stars 1980: 7 to 7,5 stars 1983: 7 stars

Here we have the final chapter of the this turbulently dark and maturely free-flowing three part mini-series, picking up three years after the second chapter, the story for 1983 might be a little convoluted (with the plot digging further into past events --- where some passages are set-up flashbacks leading us to even more surprises) it still was a fulfilling, harrowing and exciting way to close it off. It might not reach the heights of the first two chapters, as it came down a notch but for me it didn't disappoint and remained just as acceptably engaging as the previous entries.

1983 sets the story that another young girl has vanished from the same area, where nine years earlier (set-up in the first chapter; 1974) a young girl's mutilated dead body was found with angel wings. Detective Maurice Jobson was originally on the case with an autistic man Michael Mishkin being accused of the murder/s, but now of this new development the family of the accused seeks the help from dreary lawyer John Piggott to get an appeal. At first hesitant, but Piggott learns some astonishing facts from Michael about police brutality and corruption at the core. There he goes on trying to take on the Yorkshire police on his own. While Detective Jobson seems to be having a change of heart and starts digging in to the case wanting to do the correct thing, which some of his fellow officers begin questioning.

1983 pretty much follows on from 1974, as while 1980 seemed there more so there to connect/hold together some issues that worked its way in. The sprawling plot brings together all the pieces (child abuse, serial murders and police corruption) to put them as one; as every little detail, lead and revelation about this deeply crafted and intelligent crime story comes to a conclusion. Recurring characters seem to find themselves being wrapped up too and it actually centres more on the endlessly brutal actions of the police behind closed doors. The story was never about the bigger picture of police corruption and violence, but just a small note of it with how this case (and also Yorkshire ripper) was manipulated for self-gain and power… the series focused on that aspect.

Here the narrative for the last chapter is about someone trying to make a difference, no matter how much they're out of their league or badly tainted. This can be seen from the viewpoint of two central characters ; lawyer John Piggott and Detective Maurice Jobson. Both have regrets and troubled minds, but see this crusade to not turn a blind eye and at least add a touch of hope amongst such bleak, unflinching and fearful circumstances. David Morrisey had lesser roles in the early films, but this one its all about his character's transformation in what is a superbly reflective performance as Jobson. Mark Addy is also outstanding as lawyer Piggott. Then there's a third character; BJ (Robert Sheehan) who ties all the incidents together from all three chapters. The support is up to game with brilliant show-ins by Warren Clarke, Jim Carter, Daniel Mays and Peter Mullan.

Director Anand Tucker just like the other additions captures the times through place and time, embarking with a visually crisp look but never forgetting the glassy and hardened edge that made this series an uneasy and challenging viewing. What always left a mark with me throughout the series, were the music scores and this chapter was no exception. Gloomy, but soulful and emotionally tailored.

An unforgettable and stimulating TV crime drama.

In two words, brutal and disturbing. But also complex, adult, respecting the viewer who wants more than a linear tale with loose ends all strung up very neatly; its a close-up of a society in decay, of a police force that fails to have a moral compass, of some dark perversions lurking where one least expects to find them. The performances are uniformly excellent, and each of the tales, separated by a few years, showcase a specific individual into whose motivations and feelings we are allowed access: a journalist, a federal investigator, a local policeman. Be warned that there are graphic scenes of torture, that often a clue dropped in Part 1 is not picked up until Part 3, that character motivations, like those of our own, are not always crystal clear. There are 300 minutes of intensity, filmed with immediacy if not always clarity, and worth an immersion for the willing viewer.