davideo-2 STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Unorthodox journalist Mike Sullivan (Vinnie Jones) flits away his time winding up the local constabulary and trying to romance a member of police personnel. But everything changes when the landlady of the Thames side pub he frequents is found murdered and a transcript of an unpublished novel cum confession by legendary writer Charles Dickens is found. As he digs deeper into both mysteries, he is plunged further into mystery and danger than he bargained for.In 1998, former footballer Vinnie Jones shot out of nowhere and took everyone by surprise with his gangster cult classic Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Okay, no one was blown away by his acting ability, but his presence as a hard man looked set to ensure a decent career as a movie tough guy. But it all proved to be a one hit wonder, and all he really achieved after this was supporting role status amongst far more acclaimed actors in films like Gone in Sixty Seconds and Swordfish, before descending into the realm of straight to DVD hell, the latest being this muddled and labourous thriller, which might have been okay had he not taken other acclaimed and promising new talent stars like Derek Jacobi, Julie Cox, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Flemyng and Mel Smith along with him. What caused him to fall from the dizzying heights of success so quickly (apart from maybe being a one trick pony) is anyone's guess (a dodgy personal life being a possible guess) but here he is.A script as far fetched and incomprehensible as this would have been a task in anyone's hand, but with a miscast looking Jones in the lead, it's even more of a task to fathom. Jacobi's juxtaposing roles as a former thesp tramp and Dickens himself talking directly to the camera through-out are obviously hints building up to something and the script is predictable in other areas too. Add to this cheap looking production values through out and debut director (also writer) Brendan Foley has made a bad first impression.What exactly did I expect with something that came free with The Daily Mail? *

gradyharp THE RIDDLE was written and directed by Brendan Foley in what appears to be an attempt to pull the mysteries of the Charles Dickens' novels into a contemporary story, but that attempt is thwarted by electing to use the two periods of time format in which the 'riddle' is unraveled. Despite a cast of well-known actors, trying their best to pull off this direct to DVD movie, the end product is a long, tedious, amateurish mess that can only be considered as entertainment if viewers are fans of the cast as remembered from other films. Mike Sullivan (Vinnie Jones) is a journalist confined to reporting on dog racing events while he dreams of important reporting assignments. A series of similar murders happens to include an old friend of Mike's - Sadie (Vera Day) who runs a pub on the banks of the Thames, having just discovered an old valuable unpublished manuscript by Charles Dickens, and has a heart of gold, giving sandwiches away to such pathetic creatures as an old tramp beachcomber (Derek Jacobi). Sadie's murder attracts Mike to the role of detective journalism and with the help of policewoman Kate (Julie Cox) he begins to tie the investigation to clues he finds in reading the Dickens manuscript. Disrupting the flow of this rather simplistic story is the use of flashbacks to Dickens' time as Dickens (again Derek Jacobi) narrates a rather personal story of peculiar murders. The parallel between stories and the cross casting among actors may have worked in another's hands, but the finessing of this kind of venture escapes writer/director Brendan Foley. He draws his story to a close (at long last) with a tired Hollywoodesque ending. In addition to Jones, Jacobi, Cox, and Day, the film somehow attracted the attention of Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Flemyng, PH Moriarty and Mel Smith: their contributions are minimal but happily distracting. This is a flimsy bit of treacle leaving the viewer wondering how films of this quality ever find funding. Grady Harp

Hans Liebing I saw "The Riddle" at the 2007 Austin Film Festival and had a chance to meet the film's writer/director Brendan Foley. I was very impressed by both the film and the director. I would consider the director as one of those rare visionaries who - with a single idea - were able to change a facet of the face of movie marketing and distribution. I find Foley's idea, to distribute the film through a print medium in Europe completely novel and very creative.And yet, that marketing and distribution strategy would mean nothing without an excellent movie and Brendan Foley delivered in that respect as well. I found most of the film's performances very strong and enjoyed seeing Vinnie Jones master a role that is quite atypical for him with ease and to great effect.Foley also managed the difficult task of interweaving the past and present story lines of the highly original plot with eloquence, driving the story forward and keeping the audience on the edge of their seats as the riddle unravels."The Riddle" is well written, shot and edited and highly entertaining. I was very intrigued by the movie. So much, in fact, that I went to see it twice.

porfle I got to see an advance screener of THE RIDDLE before I knew anything about it, so I didn't have any preconceptions going in. As such, it struck me as an intriguing murder mystery that was well-written and well-acted. Vinnie Jones is one of my favorite actors now--I was already a fan after seeing JOHNNY WAS, and he gives another likable performance in this movie. I think it helps that I never knew him as a sports star and thus had no preconceptions about him. The rest of the cast, including Derek Jacobi, Julie Cox, Vera Day, Mel Smith, and Jason Flemyng, plus Vanessa Redgrave in a small role, are very good. It's unfortunate that the way THE RIDDLE was released and the fact that it garnered a high score on IMDb early on seems to have elicited such an over-the-top reaction against it. Of course, not everyone is going to like it and some valid criticisms have been expressed, but much of the negativity sounds unreasonably caustic and at times silly. This is a low-budget independent film by a first-time director, so one can't expect a Hollywood blockbuster. But if you accept the fact that it's low-key and deliberately paced, THE RIDDLE can be a very rewarding and entertaining film.P.S. Some have pointed out that several of the more positive reviews are from first-timers with no other posting history on IMDb. But if you'll check the most overtly negative reviews, you'll find that, so far anyway, the same can be said for the majority of them as well.