I must have missed something while watching "Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974" because I did not see a spectacular film as some tend to say about it. What I saw was a well made film but nothing so outstanding about a journalist trying to stop a serial killer who murdered little girls back in 1974.

Eddie Dunford (Andrew Garfield) is a persistent yet very naive journalist trying to solve the case behind the disappearance of some girls from the surroundings. The more he goes with the story he'll find more and more trouble, to the point of having a strange tendency of getting punched by corrupt cops who don't want him near of the people who might know what's the truth behind the deaths. Haven't we seen that before?

The film wasn't strong enough to make me feel deeply interested at certain parts (the course of Eddie's investigations are quite boring, so in order to lift things higher the director gives us lots of sex scenes, a little bit pointless but interesting to see, specially because Garfield is in all of that). It's very well made, well acted specially by Garfield and Sean Bean, who plays a powerful businessman. The historical reconstruction, art direction and costumes (the corny pants Andrew wears are priceless) are really good. But I'm a little saturated of plots like that, very surpriseless and very obvious.

So, I made my point of what works in this piece. If you think you should see it go forward. It's up to you. Totally recommendable for fans of Garfield, Bean, Eddie Marsan, Peter Mullan, David Morrissey and others. 6/10

I missed this trilogy when it was first shown on TV, heard great things about it, and finally caught up with it when they repeated it recently.

A mystery about a series of child abductions eventually turns out to be more about corruption in the Yorkshire police than anything else, but boy what a production! This has to be one of the darkest, most downbeat slices of television I've witnessed, and yet it's so well made, so compelling that you can't stop watching.

Garfield's cocky journo wasn't my favourite of the series leads - I felt no sympathy for him - but what a supporting cast! Sean Bean headlines as the big name, but it's a shock to see friendly favourites like Warren Clarke playing complete bastards.

The story meanders with one too many sub-plots to easily follow, but things gradually become clearer as the trilogy progresses. More than anything I'm reminded of Scorcese's TAXI DRIVER as a similar story of one man's disintegration...

When Channel 4 adapted David Peace's Red Riding books, each film of the trilogy having a different director. I expect champagne corks were popping in the Channel 4 offices as the preview tapes were sent out to the press as the Executives were just counting the days until they collected the various BAFTA awards.

The reality did not work out as the film series were rather flawed and seemed to be too sure of itself which is evident in the first film of the trilogy.

It is set in 1974, an era strikes including the Yorkshire miners and two general elections were held that year.

Eddie Dunford (Andrew Garfield) is a cocky cub reporter at a local newspaper. John Dawson (Sean Bean) is a bent property developer. A businessman with local cops and local politicians on the payroll.

Dunford investigates a series of murdered girls, one of whom is found on Dawson's property with swan wings stitched into her back.

An elusive male prostitute, BJ (Robert Sheehan) has incriminating evidence that Dunford acquired and which he later passes on to a police officer he thought was a friend but are eventually destroyed.

The story although fictional have an aura of being based on real life events and based on real characters albeit a fictional wrapper. The film has a dark undertone, a neo-noir thriller but it never really works. Its an uneasy mixture of grime and grit with unlikeable characters all around and even dense in places.