Customer Reviews

The Riddle

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

British footballer Vinnie Jones is cast as Mike Sullivan, a London sports writer who wants to tackle hard news. When Sadie, an old friend with whom he exchanges riddles is found murdered, Mike is thrust into the investigation, despite a detective inspector who'd rather he go away. While renovating her pub, Sadie came across what could possibly be an unpublished manuscript of a dark story of murder by Charles Dickens (though it appears they had Dickens confused with Edgar Allan Poe). When Mike discovers the manuscript, he and police officer Kate read the manuscript hoping to find clues to solve the crime with the help of a homeless man (Derek Jacobi, who also narrates the manuscript as Dickens in a dual role). What they discover is a lot of corruption.

Unfortunately, the director chose to portray half the story in present day London and the remainder in Dickens' Victorian era story which coincidentally mirrors the current events (many of the actors besides Jacobi have dual roles also). It makes the rest of the movie confusing and distracting and had me nearly comatose at times. It might have sounded good on paper but the finished product was pretty boring and contrived. They even managed to make Jones, who is usually such an energetic presence in his roles seem pretty darned bland. Not worth a purchase; put this one in your Netflix queue instead.

© Tracy Vest, September 2008

Though it might not be considered violent compared to many thrillers, the acting, casting, and dual-story plot make this one of the most intriguing thrillers I've seen in a while. There is a subtle interweaving of stories fom the Dickens manuscript and the modern-day murder case-- some actors play double roles, which adds to the supernatural quality of the mystery.

This film does draw very loosely on events in Dickens' life and marriage, though it "re-writes" much. More interestingly, it brings out the darker side of the Victorian author's work with quotes from Oliver Twist, reference to the murders in Our Mutual Friend, and an almost Poe-like narration of a tale of madness and murder.

Derek Jacobi is versatile as ever, portraying both an insane (though well-read) homeless man, and the author/narrator of the newly discovered Dickens manuscript. Mel Smith (The Princess Bride, Alas Smith and Jones, Trevor Nunn's Twelfth Night)has a brief but amusing appearance as the enthusiastic (and athsmatic?) authenticator of the manuscript.

Not big on action, but definitely worth watching for the sake of a good story. An added bonus is that, unlike the young and beautiful Hollywood sterotypes we are so familiar with, this cast can really act.

A rather bad thriller with a fake dickens story woven into it. The dickens story had no real relevance to the thriller and continuously interrupted the flow of the movie. Unless you have 2 hrs. to waste, stay away from this movie.

I loved the "history", the film was well done and I enjoyed the characters - I felt like I got to know them well. It was a fantastic ending! I'm buying it for my personal library.

This movie was order incorrectly. The movie I wanted was called Riddle with Val Kilmer starring in it. I didnt like this movie. It was boring and didn't make much sense.. No action at all.

The Riddle stars one of my favorite actors, Derek Jacobi, so I thought the movie was good, although as Brittish movies do, it was kind of choppy and hard to follow, and ended stupid. My rating of the site I got this movie from was 1st rate. It arrived in perfect condition, and the C.D. is great. I'd give them 5 stars, plus it was only a week or two in getting here. Thanks!!!!

Other than the hot lead male actor I was sorta lost regarding this movie....Decent film. Again, lead actor kept me captivated not the plot.

Love Vinnie Jones doing something other than badass thug.

He delivers an excellent performance as Mike Sullivan, a hustling sports reporter who dreams of moving into hard news. And the story that might make his career: Investigating the mysterious murder of a local pub owner. Unbeknownst to him is that this is no average street crime. It might just be the tip of a very ugly iceberg, possibly threatening the government itself. And the powers-that-be aren't going to let that happen.

Unfortunately that wonderful performance was stuck inside this bizarre little film.

Attempting to blend two completely incongruous tales - the plot I described above and, hold onto your seats, a lost story by Charles Dickens. An unpublished manuscript which is explained by Dickens himself (Derek Jacobi) during the turbulent period following his wife's undiagnosed mental illness, which one presumes to be schizophrenia.

It's the constant flipping between 'today' and the Victorian England past that makes this such a quirky production. Had this been a straight thriller I honestly believe it would've been quite excellent, on par with something like "The International".

Unfortunately, that's not what happened.

It's difficult to review this without giving too much away - as I never want to play spoiler, even if the film is a steaming dung pile.

That's not the case with The Riddle - it's decent for a purely will-only-watch-this-once-in-my-life category type of flick.

But I so wish that Jones is given more roles like this one; he can do so much more than a frowning bloodthirsty hulk. In this film he convincingly portrays vulnerable, sweet, and even self-deprecating. And Jones' enjoyable non-thug performance is the only reason it rates three-stars.

Director/Writer Brenden Foley continues to flog ex-footballer Vinnie Jones in disastrous film after disastrous film for who knows what unfathomable mystery. Certainly one more interesting, one would hope, than the mystery of The Riddle. It is saddening to see Sir Derek Jacobi needing money so much as to turn in a performance at once cheap and demeaning to his craft and former repertoire. The Riddle also again demonstrates that Vinnie Jones cannot or will not act. Oh, yes, he can turn his head one way and then the opposite way, but that seems to be the extent of his emoting. Julie Cox plays the unconvincing love interest-slash-copper whose life is obviously so shallow and vacuous she almost seems "suitable" as a mate for Jones. Whether it's the over-long, leaden dialogue or Foley's tepid directing, or a combination one-two punch of both, this film really starts to make you yawn early on in its nearly two hour length.

Incongruities and continuity gaffs are rampant, never more apparent than when in a morgue scene, the feet of a corpse are shown on one side of the screen view and her head on the opposite side of the screen (no, she was not dismembered by the way). I wonder why it is that British directors always have their relatively modestly-paid heroes living in penthouse-sized flats along the docks. Vinnie is supposed to be a low-man-on-the-totem pole dog races reporter yet lives in an expensively-furnished suite only the once-flush Geoffrey Archer could have afforded at his economic peak. Derek Jacobi plays the dual role of Charles Dickens and a "mysterious" beachcomber whose rags and face are always immaculately clean. Julie Cox never once flashes her badge or is shown to be actually performing any detective-type work despite working under her curmudegeonly-frowning D. I. boss P. H. Moriarty. Depth of character is continually sacrificed at the altar of the murky mix-mash of storyline that meanders here and there pretending to confuse the audience. As for "clues" -- forget it. Foley apparently thinks they would only clutter his shallow plotline and muddle his cardboard characters even more than they already are.

This is a disaster of a film that should -- one can hope -- forever sink the career of Brenden Foley and relegate him back to being the dubious scribbler he once was for such dynamic hard copy editions as PR Week and the UK Press Gazette.

The story is completely uninteresting, the acting is poor, much of it wasn't believable, and the music was completely inappropriate for the scenes they were in. This movie was seriously terrible.