Reviews & Ratings for
Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980 More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 2:

[1] [2]

Index

18 reviews in total

---

23 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
Challenging but brilliant material, 18 March 2009

Author: ben_cg from United Kingdom

The second film in the Red-Riding trilogy is another haunting almost hallucinatory tale of revenge and justice. Paddy Considine is excellent as the slightly cerebral and introspective officer assigned to review the failing investigation into the Yorkshire ripper, and the whole cast give performances of a very high class. The shocking corruption of the Yorkshire police revealed in the first film now intertwines into the real life history of the ripper's crimes and the bumbling investigation which was still fixated on the (hoax) tapes and letters in a fascinating but terrifying way.

It feels like a lot of material is woven into the film which expects you to pay attention and work stuff out. Having said this I found the film easy to watch, it didn't drag at all but like many great films it requires you to think a little. I really will need to see it a second time to try and piece together all of the threads, this is dense and exciting storytelling - perhaps not for everybody but hopefully this will find the audience it deserves.

Some say that the corrupt police story is too fantastic, but we know for a fact that some people were fitted up (via beatings and falsifying/withholding evidence by the police) for major crimes during this period (Birmingham Six, Guildford Four etc.) and that some police such as the Vice squad in London were running a very lucrative protection racket in Soho with senior officers (DCS) directly involved. Without giving away the plot the story here only goes slightly further and seems 'believable enough' to me.

Although essentially produced as 'TV Movies' the first two films (and I expect the 3rd to be the same) have been of a higher standard than about 95% of film releases, I strongly urge anyone who likes intelligent crime noir to see these films if you get the chance.

---

12 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
At Last, 21 March 2009
Author: GrahamEngland from United Kingdom

At last, some intelligent, challenging, original drama. Difficult at times? Yes, but that makes it stay with you. Channel 4 have become known for reality TV like Big Brother and way too many 'lifestyle' shows, they never brought 'The Wire', they've lost their way. But this is such a step in the right direction, David Peace is the outstanding British crime writer of his generation, prior to Red Riding being screened, I'd read '1974', 'GB84' and 'The Damned United'. Now I'm reading the one from the 'Red Riding' Trilogy not adapted, '1977'.

So I at least knew any adaptation would not be your conventional cop show, despite this, all these three films screened set a benchmark. The acting is superb, though it's fiction intertwined with fact, they pull it off.

At the start of this film, Warren Clarke as senior cop Molloy, monologues to camera, almost it seems in a trance, reasoning, appealing to the Yorkshire Ripper, trying to understand and almost plead with him. Like a star shell in my head, I recalled the senior policeman in the real Ripper investigation, George Oldfield, doing something not that different on national TV, 30 years ago. He was being broken by his failure after years and with bodies piling up, to catch the Ripper, he would stake everything of the tape and letters from the 'Ripper' taunting him.

They were hoaxes, the completely different accent on the tape caused the Police to let the real Ripper slip through their fingers at least once. A couple of years ago, DNA advances caught the Hoaxer over 25 years on-from samples on an envelope he licked to seal in 1978, he was a hopeless alcoholic on the DNA database for minor disorder offences.

The above sounds an unlikely story, so although Red Riding has plots that to many may seem outlandish, real life can be too. There was a culture of corruption, fitting people up and worse, in some British police forces in the 1970's. There was corruption with developers and politicians. David Peace has taken these, added his own touches, to construct what he has called 'Occult Histories', including as in GB84, the 1984/85 miners strike. 'Occult' as in alternative, rather black magic/Satan etc.

What the three films in this trilogy have done, is take the writers vision off the page and onto film in a stunning, memorable and accomplished fashion. A heap of BAFTA's surely await?

And get that DVD out!

---

6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
In the mood of a drama, 7 November 2010

Author: kluseba from Chicoutimi, Canada

After the brilliant ending of the first part of the trilogy, I expected a lot from this second part. In the beginning, this follow-up didn't meet my expectations but after I've had accept the new style and the new story line I began to appreciate this movie a lot.

This movie takes place six years after the ending of the first movie. Peter Hunter, played by a brilliant and insightful Paddy Considine, comes back to Yorkshire after he had investigated on the shooting scene that took place in the end of the first movie but he wasn't able to resolve the crime at that time because his wife had lost a child. A few years later, he comes now back to resolve the crimes of the Yorkshire Ripper who had killed thirteen young women. But the demons of the past are still present and Peter Hunter wants to resolve the case he had once to abandon. But as he is torn into a circle of lies, corruption and criminality, his enemies tries to stop his investigations.

The second part of the trilogy has a slow paced beginning as the first one and the connections to the end of the first part are not yet visible. Later on, there are some flashbacks and memories that explain what has happened after the tragical ending of the shooting scene and in the end of this second part, we get to know what really happened as Peter Hunter meets an eyewitness that was present during the shooting and what happened afterwards. The ending of the movie is well done even if it is a little bit too predictable.

A part of this interesting story line in relation to the first movie, this film is much more a personal drama than a suspenseful thriller. The search for the Yorkshire Ripper is not really addicting and the solution of this case is rather silly and boring. That's the main weak point of this movie as this investigation is an unsatisfying deception. They should have elaborated a little bit more on that or they should not have included this detail at all.

What is interesting about this movie is the personal drama part of it. The movie talks about love, passion and loss and Peter Hunter who lives all kind of difficult moments and uneasy emotions. The movie talks about such difficult topics like isolation or abortion and those details make this movie really authentic and emotional. Maxine Peake as Hunter's colleague and lover Helen Marshall does an outstanding and credible job as well as Bob Craven as a menacing, provoking and ugly police officer or Peter Mullan as the religious and mysterious Martin Laws. Every character is quite well developed and this is the strongest point of this movie.

All in all, this movie is a different genre than the first one. It is rather a drama than a thriller. Once you have accepted that, you will like the profound characters and the talented actors in this movie as well as the interesting connection to the first movie. What rates this movie down is the weak side story line around the Yorkshire Ripper and the fact that the second part of the trilogy has not the same intense atmosphere of a film noir as the first part that did a slightly better overall job. But still, I think that a seven star rating is acceptable for this second part, too and I recommend you to watch this follow-up.

---

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
A gritty Yorkshire brought to life in shocking detail, 16 January 2011

Author: Leofwine_draca from United Kingdom

The second part of the RED RIDING trilogy takes up the storyline three years later. The eventual capture of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, serves to muddy the waters of investigation but a new detective aims to get to the bottom of the conspiracy.

It's like the first film, but not. This is more of a police procedural, which may well be because of the detective lead (Considine gives a solid performance here). Once again, police corruption is the order of the day as we finally learn just how deep it goes.

It suffers a little from being the middle film in a trilogy - thus only a few loose ends are tied up here - but makes up for that with an ultra-frightening performance from Sean Harris (ISOLATION) as one of the most disturbed coppers you'll ever see on screen.

---

14 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
The wolves will be a chase., 29 March 2009

Author: tyler-and-jack from Edinburgh.

Please see my review for the first part of this amazing trilogy to establish just how jaw-droppingly good I think the whole thing was.

This time around, we join Peter Hunter (played by the consistently brilliant Paddy Considine) as he is asked to head a covert investigation into the Yorkshire Police Force and their methods of investigating the Yorkshire Ripper case. The people are scared and looking for others to blame while the police, again busy with their own interests and corruption, are coming up empty-handed. This is almost a stand-alone effort, having less connection with the first part than the finale will have, but it keeps some story strands running and the big picture is really only seen by those who watch the whole thing. Which I implore everyone to do.

We have high production values once again and another cast to die for. Considine is so good that it's almost impossible to believe he would come on board for what is, essentially, a TV production but fair play to the guy for spotting dynamite material when he sees it. Many others have already appeared in the "1974" instalment and the new faces (such as Maxine Peake, Lesley Sharp and Joseph Mawle) all step right up to the mark and join the others in performing out of their damn skins.

It's more discomfort for the viewer due to the material and graphic detail (described more than actually shown) and also ties in with the real, notorious hunt for "The Yorkshire Ripper" in a way that perfectly, and unnervingly, blends fact with fiction. Not quite as impactful as the first episode/movie, this nevertheless delivers quality on every single level and keeps the 10/10 standard that the previous production started off with.

See this if you like: Zodiac, L.A. Confidential, Red Riding "1974".

---

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
More of the same. Good and complicated again., 28 August 2011

Author: Rodrigo Amaro (rodrigo882008@hotmail.com) from São Paulo, Brazil

A few things have changed between the first "Red Riding" and this one and I'm not talking about the years in between both stories. On the similarities, yes, both films are completely overestimated by their audiences, both are good films not great ones and they are trapped on similar suffocating presentations that almost makes them weak films.

Instead of the masochist investigative journalist with an quite exciting life here we have an detective (Paddy Considine) following the steps of a new Jack the Ripper killing women out there, in the England of the 1980's (although this man started the killing back in the 1970's). The movie brings back some characters of the previous movie like the ones played by David Morrissey (again, reduced to a few lines, his part gets bigger in the third film) and Robert Sheehan (BJ) and gives us some flashbacks with the journalist Eddie (Andrew Garfield) repeated here from a different perspective. Lies, corruption, dirty schemes are also part of the intriguing but confusing plot.

I gotta recognize that this was a little bit more effective than the first film since in that I couldn't get what the writer and director were trying to do. The semi-originality of this flick is being a movie about catching a killer without displaying gallons of blood and fake make-up, "Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980" instead prefers to be more about the hunt for the killer than to show what he does and how he does. Just by hearing his methods of killing you get terrified, disgusted. It's the kind of film you can easily suggest to people who are afraid of seeing horrible things on the screen. However, this originality pays some high cost with more demanding viewers because it's presentation is painfully slow, more tedious than the first film (there's no sex scenes with Andy so, there's no lift up's and probably you'll sleep easier here), very talky for a film of its kind, it takes a ridiculous time to really something new happen during the course of investigations. The surprise at the conclusion worth all the while, it's really good. Fincher's "Zodiac" is hundred times better if we have to draw some comparisons.

I can't complain about the acting, all actors are great. Fans of this series of films will enjoy it without complications. It's good, not very good but good. 6/10

---

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
A slow-burner with a blistering conclusion., 4 August 2011

Author: Rockwell_Cronenberg from United States

After the nonstop dark intensity of 1974, 1980 plays things a lot more reserved and close to the chest. Like it's predecessor, this one opens up by throwing us right in the middle of a serial murder case, led this time by Paddy Considine's Peter Hunter, and then slowly delves more into the world of corruption within the Yorkshire police force. Whereas the first film took us into this terrifying world through the eyes of a journalist, here we are right in the middle of the police, studying the corrupt within the force along with those outside of it.

Director James Marsh gives the film a sharp, stated tone that does a great job of putting us in the shoes of Hunter. We suspect everyone and everything, even those closest to him. When he's talking to fellow officers, we feel that all of them are dirty, especially the ones higher up on the ladder. The individual case for this film is the Yorkshire Ripper and the film makes a compelling race for Hunter and his team to bring this man to justice. However, the more interesting aspect of the film is when we get to see Hunter dealing with the corruption within the force.

After the climatic events that concluded 1974, we see that Hunter was the one who investigated the epic shootout and made a lot of enemies when he dug into corruption within the force. There is always this looming danger surrounding Hunter throughout and Considine plays his brave paranoia expertly. He keeps his emotions just under the surface, a very reserved protagonist to counteract Andrew Garfield's explosive one in the first feature. The film as a whole is much more subdued than 1974 and it works well.

1980 is a real slow-burner, which makes the picture slightly less compelling at the start but builds and builds into a final act that is intensely gripping. The final fifteen minutes had my heart racing like a maniac, with a powerful final twist. It's left me very hungry for more, I'm eagerly looking forward to finishing the trilogy.

---

4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Stunning movie-making, 20 December 2010

Author: sergepesic from Minneapolis, USA

The second installment in the Red Riding Trilogy set in 1980, is even better than the excellent first part. The putrid corruption of the West Yorkshire police is , if possible, more pronounced three years later. Their sheer incompetence is easily revealed during the desperate search for the Yorkshire Ripper,diabolical serial killer praying on prostitutes. The atmosphere of the second part of the trilogy is as a gloomy and depressing as ever,not unlike the lives of the unfortunate souls unlucky enough to end up in this hellhole of a place. I am eagerly awaiting the ending of this harrowing story in one of the best TV project I've seen after the legendary " Prime Suspect".

---

9 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
A slight improvement on the first one, 6 June 2009

Author: davideo-2 from United Kingdom

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Detective Peter Hunter (Paddy Constantine) is assigned to head a Covert investigation into the West Yorkshire Police's handling on the Yorkshire Ripper case, authorized by the Home Secretary. He handpicks two of the best associates he knows, including one he was once romantically linked with, and the investigation starts. A prostitute, seemingly another Ripper victim, puts a dramatic turn on things when Hunter learns of her history with the head of the police force years ago and this leads to a dramatic twist involving corruption, betrayal and murder.

The Yorkshire Police's handling of the Ripper enquiry was notoriously criticized at the time it was going on, and provides an interesting, if questionable, backdrop for this superior second part of the Red Riding trilogy. The only part of the series to deviate from the original story into something completely different, it's a dour and humourless affair but at least there is a clear and intelligent story to follow here, that doesn't get too lost in deep, dark monologues and moody atmosphere.

In the lead role, Constantine fits the material with a straight laced and serious demeaneur that is matched by the rest of the supporting cast. Hopefully, the relatives of the Ripper's victims didn't find it too disrespectful but this is quite possibly the most well made and gripping part of the story. ***

---

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
"Mindful and constantly engaging...", 14 September 2012

Author: Sindre Kaspersen from Norway

English screenwriter and director James Marsh's television film which was written by screenwriter Toni Grisoni, is the second part of the Red Riding trilogy which was preceded by "Red Riding 1974" and succeeded by "Red Riding 1983". It was screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2009 and at the 36th Telluride Film Festival in 2009, was shot on location in West Yorkshire and Leeds independent studios in Northern England and is a British production by Revelation Films which was produced by Andrew Heaton, Anita Overland and Wendy Brazington. It tells the story about assistant chief constable Peter Hunter, a married detective from Manchester who is assigned to a covert home office inquiry by regional chief inspector of Yorkshire Philip Evans and Michael Warren from the home office after a 20-year-old student nurse named Laura Baines is found murdered in a way that has had the media speculate that she might be the 13th victim of the infamous Yorkshire Ripper. Peter handpicks detective chief superintendent John Nolan whom he has worked with on a previous case and detective Helen Marshall as his associates and is happy about having them on his team, but when detective superintendent Bob Craven is sent as a liaison and after a meeting with detective chief superintendent Maurice Jobson who has been given sole responsibility for the hunt of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter learns that the West Yorkshire constabulary suspects that his reason for being there goes beyond the Yorkshire Ripper case.

Finely and acutely directed by English filmmaker James Marsh, this fast-paced and unsentimental fictional tale which is narrated mostly from the main character's point of view, draws a multifaceted portrayal of a constable's pervasive investigation of a five-year old murder case and his relationship with his female colleague. While notable for it's naturalistic and gritty urban milieu depictions, fine cinematography by DP Igor Martinovic, production design by P.D Tomas Burton, editing by film editor Jinx Godfrey and use of sound, this character-driven, dialog-driven and narrative-driven neo-noir depicts a dense study of character and contains a good score by British musician and composer Dickon Hinchliffe.

This poignantly and forebodingly atmospheric and darkly humorous psychological thriller which is set against the backdrop of West Yorkshire in December 1980 during the investigation of the Yorkshire Ripper murders (1975-1980), is impelled and reinforced by it's fragmented narrative structure, subtle character development, various characters, interrelated stories, multiple viewpoints and the prominent acting performances by British actors Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, Warren Clarke and Maxine Peake from the great ensemble cast. A mindful and constantly engaging mystery.

---

---

Page 1 of 2:

[1] [2]

Add another review

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Ratings	Awards
External reviews	Parents Guide	Plot keywords
Main details	Your user reviews	Your vote history