Don't listen to the negative reviews

A Masterpiece!

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The worst part of this is the story, which rapidly deteriorates from a partly promising premise to an abysmal end. Rather than making the main plot more interesting, the subplot involving Charles Dickens renders the narrative nonsensical. I think I know why those famous actors and actresses were involved: they are hacks who could sleepwalk through their parts and have been involved in enough good films that the occasional putrid offering doesn't matter. There could have been a good film in this, involving modern and Dickensian London, but that would involve an intelligent writer, which this script utterly lacked. The real "riddle" is why such a uninspired and uninspiring story idea ever was made into a film...

Somewhat confusing story about a Londoner (Vinnie Jones) who gets involved in a web of intrigue centering on newly discovered Charles Dickens manuals. I spent much of the movie wondering how much of the stuff about Dickens himself was true; I would like to know more about Charles Dickens as a person.Other than that, the acting kept the movie afloat. Aside from Jones, Derek Jacobi, Julie Cox, Vanessa Redgrave and Jason Flemyng turn in very good performances. It's just that I felt that the movie didn't tell as much about Charles Dickens as I would have wanted to hear. Pretty good otherwise.

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.

Famous as the British film so bad it had to be given away for free with a newspaper, the quality of this sub-Children's Film Foundation "thriller" can be guessed from the abnormal number of 10/10 votes it gets and the large number of rave reviews from posters with no posting history and no other reviews to their name. The regulars know what this mean, the gullible might be conned. If they do dip into the waters of this one they won't last long before it drags them under. Technically inept with the boom mike getting into shot or the reflections of the crew visible it just goes on forever in a forgetful sub-DAVINCI CODE on $5 a day way. The end is just insulting but don't worry. It's not as if you'll get that far!