L'énigme

Firstly, I truly find it hard to accept someone reviewing this movie and giving it a 10...wrong movie I think. I gave this movie 2 stars only because I thought the idea was good but the outcome was not so good. I believe in giving young actors a chance and I felt they tried their best in a lack lustered affair.Val Kilmer, what do I say...had about 20 lines in the whole move and was so poor maybe he should have hung his boots up after the 80's comedy, Top Secret. He just didn't want to be there, his body language was about as solid as a wet paper bag. The script had so many holes in it and the basis of the storyline was "riddled" with flaws. The filming was also very D grade. No smooth transitions, no fluency. At times the camera work was trying too hard, too hard to be shot as a blockbuster instead of just being the movie it was suppose to be. It could have been a good B grader, however in my opinion it didn't even reach the perils of an F.

"Riddle" is a fun thriller that catches your attention early and keeps it throughout. Elisabeth Harnois plays Holly, a high-school girl with a younger brother who suffers from Thompson's Disease. One day, he disappears and she is, of course, devastated.

Cut to three years later. She is back from college helping out with the Farmer's Market when she becomes convinced she has seen her missing brother. She follows the trail to the town of Riddle, which just happens to be the home town of the last two boys who saw her brother. Riddle looks to be a town on the door of Hell -- completely run down and sparsely populated. The major drawing point of the town seems to be the wonder of Nature that is Diora Baird, who is the daughter the less than helpful Sheriff (Val Kilmer). But Riddle also has secrets, and they are brought out into the open as Holly continues to dig where, as she is told, she doesn't belong.

Lots of good stuff here. The story moves quickly and briskly. Even though you'll probably guess the culprit early on (I did), there's enough ancillary mystery to make that OK. The early scenes prior to young Nate's disappearance are genuinely unsettling and make a couple of characters way more complex than they have a right to in a film like this. And finally, it's not surprising that Harnois and Baird are friends in real life -- they have an easy going, natural chemistry together that really helps drive the film forward.

Nothing classic here, guys, but better than a lot and definitely worth checking out.

Entirely predictable "thriller" bout a girl who goes looking for her missing brother and finds her crazy supposedly dead, pa. You know that you're in trouble when the first shot of the town where little bro disappeared is of mute, overage children sitting in swings with that frizzy hair children of the corn, damned, whatever, always seem to wear, and they run away scared when she asks for directions. Overdramatic and Overblown, the orchestral soundtrack is inappropriate and so intrusive, like It wants to be the star. Very attractive young cast, including a young Rob Lowe look-a-like, trapped in stereotypes, which they have got down, give them that. Fat Val (Kilmer) checks in for a few minutes to pick up a paycheck How desperate must he have been? Adequately decent camerawork is why it's a 3, not 2.

(2013) Riddle SUSPENSE MYSTERY THRILLER

Small town called "Riddle" which became synonymous for a missing Teller brother, ruining the entire town's reputation forever. Three years later and the family has already moved on, living on a another small town called Johnson, and while the sister's Holly Teller (Elisabeth Harnois) volunteering at the farmer's market, she managed to spot someone wearing her younger brother's runners upon her picking up some fruit from the ground. So she then decides to follows him while he was being driven away on a pick up, leading back to the small town of "Riddle" again with Val Kilmer as the town's sheriff.

I desperately wanted to like this movie only because I'm a Kilmer fan, and appreciate the efforts of veteran actors like William Sadler, but even they couldn't save this poorly written piece from rental oblivion. If this were a student film piece, this movie would certainly showcase the promise and potential of everyone involved. Even though this was made on a low budget, it's a flat-footed attempt at a thriller. This is one of Kilmer's "paycheck player" roles, and is not worth viewing if you're a fan. The younger actors are not terrible, but they don't bring much to the table, either. Use your Redbox free rental promo code for something else.