Release Date – 2/5/2010 (limited)
Eddie Dunford is a young journalist for the Yorkshire Post. He has taken it upon himself to investigate the recent kidnappings of young girls that led to torture, rape, and murder. He becomes romantically involved with one of the girl’s mothers and also gets into trouble with local businessman John Dawson who seems to be paying off police officers in order to gain land to build a new mall. Dunford seems to be asking too many questions and many people look to silence him. This is Part 1 of a trilogy that has come from a British mini-series which in turn came from four novels by David Pearce. Its very British, hard to understand sometimes, and very hard to follow. But also its very interesting with a shocking ending. Its pretty much a setup for the next chapters in the series though.
Andrew Garfield plays the lead character, journalist Eddie Dunford. I wasn’t a big fan of him as he doesn’t show much emotion throughout the film. But he is the centerpiece and everything seems to revolving around him. He is just never in the right place at the right time to catch it. Sean Bean is the ultimate creep as John Dawson. His name is looming throughout half the movie before we actually meet him. The minute this guy comes onto the screen you know he’s up to no good. Although the remainder of the cast is relatively unknown to American audiences, they all did a fine job. Rebecca Hall had a mysteriousness to her as the romantic involvement for Dunford and Dawson. Besides the lead, the movie is definitely not lacking in the acting department. Things really shift into high gear when Dunford starts revealing some police corruption might be involved. He can’t trust any statements given by people and the cops are roughing him up when he gets too close to some answers. Its evident that police corruption will be a general theme in the series.
Although the three parts in this series were all adapted into screenplays by Tony Grisoni (Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas), each part was directed by a different person and shot with a different style of film. Frequent TV director Julian Jarrold takes on 1974 and shoots in 16mm film which is popular for TV shows. It has a raw feel to it. Many blurred screens and shots of the dark and gritty atmosphere of West Yorkshire. The theme of a serial child killer seems not important as instead we want to know what the police have to do with it all. The thick accents make it hard for us slow talking Americans to stay involved, but if you clear your ears and keep with it then I’m sure you’ll be entertained. It’s a decent movie which could stand on its own but it should probably be viewed more of a setup piece as to what will follow. Events from 1980 and 1983 wrap up the series and if you watch 1974 then you’ll definitely want to see what follows.
IMDB – 7.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes – N/A
Movie Wiseguys – 7/10