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The final chapter of the Red Riding Trilogy expands the spotlight from men caught up in their investigation of the web of corruption to the men who spin that web. It opens with the line "To the North, where we do what we want" and details how the desire for power and the willingness to do anything to hold on to it has led to unspeakable acts. Like the first two films, Red Riding 1983 is about a man seeking answers but learning things about very different questions. It both presents its own story and illuminates questions about the first two films that you may not have even known you had, linking the trilogy both thematically and narratively. Anand Tucker's direction and Tony Grisoni's screenplay aren’t perfect but Red Riding 1983 is yet another work that stands relatively well on its own but is made infinitely better when viewed in the light of the first two films.
In fact, the Red Riding Trilogy is a sum much greater than its parts, as each film makes the other two deeper. These are not traditional sequels or even chapters of a franchise. Like the labyrinthine overall story that it details, they are about looking at things from different angles to uncover the truth. Like the investigations they detail in that they're all about cases that are more complex than they look, each film adds depth to the entire arc, making for three interesting mysteries that merge to form a powerful complete experience. Each film can be looked at like a witness to a crime – only when you cross-reference and combine their stories, do you see the whole picture.
It's impossible to even get into a brief recap of the plot of Red Riding 1983 without spoilers. So consider yourself warned although I will tread as lightly as possible. The film details the intersecting arcs of two characters, one old and one new. The old is Maurice Jobson (David Morrissey), who appeared to be a secondary character in the first two films but the final reveals him to be at least a tangential part of most of the plot to date. His story is told in two chunks with a large number of flashbacks that detail his activities during the action of the first two films along with the action in 1983 that details his mental unraveling at what he knows and what he has done. He also falls for a medium (Saskia Reeves) who is helping him with another series of crimes as the film once again follows a pattern of a man who drags a woman down with him as happened in the first two movies.
Red Riding 1983 also tells the story of John Piggott (Mark Addy), a public solicitor who becomes involved in the arc when he is asked to help a man who looks like he's being framed for a murder not unlike the one that served as the centerpiece of the first film. Through the revelations learned in Jobson's flashbacks and the investigation sparked by Piggott's involvement, the entire story of the Red Riding Trilogy can finally be told. It's not coincidental that each film in the trilogy has featured a lead male character with a different investigative profession – journalist, detective, and solicitor. It takes looking at something this big from several angles to see its entirety.
And it's a doozy. The story of Red Riding is ugly, riveting work, a tale of remarkable corruption and pure evil. Judged on its own, the final film has some flaws. I'm not sure Tucker was the right fit for the material and the work feels both bogged down with too much expository detail (it wraps up a LOT more loose ends from the first two films than I'm sure it even needed to do) and yet also feels long at the same time. It never finds the rhythm of the second film and doesn't feature a performance as strong as Rebecca Hall's in the first nor Paddy Considine's in the second.
But if Red Riding 1983 isn't as strong a stand-alone film as the first two, it's still an amazing final act when viewed in the context of the entire trilogy. Having watched and reviewed each film one at a time, I'm now convinced that they should really only be looked at as one film with chapter breaks more than anything else. They don't work nearly as well apart as they do together. In other words, if you think you are willing to start this journey across years of vile behavior, innocence lost, and true tragedy then go all the way. You won't regret it.
Rating (The Red Riding Trilogy): THREE AND A HALF BONES
Rating (Red Riding 1983): THREE BONES
Release Date: March 12th, 2010 (in Chicago; the film is already playing in New York and LA and expanding around the country over the next few weeks)
Rating: NR
Starring: David Morrissey, Peter Mullan, Mark Addy, and Saskia Reeves
Director: Anand Tucker
Writer: Tony Grisoni
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