The Red Riding Trilogy

Loosely based on the Yorkshire Ripper case, one of the grittiest examples of noir I've ever seen. Includes all of the essential ingredients: crime, corruption, temptation, secrets, murder. Separated into three segments, they are all expertly interwoven. I had no intention of watching all three back-to-back (at 5 plus hours that is a lot of rain and chain-smoking and "bollocks") but was easily sucked in by the story and acting.



Andrew Garfield, Paddy Considine, Mark Addey, David Morrissey, Sean Bean and particularly disturbing performances from Sean Harris and Robert Sheehan.

Moody, dark, unsettling, disturbing. This is not a "fun" ride -- lots of dreary, grimy, bleak stuff here including child exploitation, rape and murder. None of the characters are altogether likable and there is a strong theme of the futility of trying to fight the system. The (relatively) good guys have victories but they are not happy endings. Repeated throughout -- Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. But what we learn by the end of the story is that sometimes it triumphs even when they do something.

I really liked this and if Netflix Instant weren't hiccuping I would've turned right around and watched it again. (Note to Netflix -- those accents warrant subtitles.) A++++++++++



I can't say enough how utterly captivating Robert Sheehan was, playing "BJ", an eerily androgynous prostitute.