There's a tree by the river with a hole in the ground...

Introduction

Mike Sullivan (Vinnie Jones) is a sports reporter with ambition beyond writing about greyhounds for ever and a day. Sullivan has already uncovered a dog-doping scandal and wants to move onto the crime desk, being interested in the death of a construction worker and a junkie found floating in the Thames. His editor (Vanessa Redgrave) is rather unenthusiastic about Sullivan either investigating these stories further or his ambition, which leads to Sullivan resigning and possibly also getting the sack (that's a little confusing to be honest…).

Sullivan carries on regardless as a freelance and tries to get an interview with the investigating officer in both cases, D.I Willis (PH Moriarty) via police press officer Kate (Julie Cox). Willis bizarrely treats the sports reporter with complete contempt and ends their interview within about five seconds, but the end result is that Sullivan gets a date with Kate.



Meanwhile Sullivan's friend and local pub landlady Sadie (Vera Day) finds a box with a rare and lost (or rather unknown) manuscript by Charles Dickens hidden away in her pub cellar, falling on her head when a wall being rebuilt decides to fall down. Sadie and Sullivan like to trade riddles and the manuscript is enticingly called The Riddle (by Charles Dickens) but before Sadie can do more than leave a message on Sullivan's phone, Sadie is dead and Willis has a new case.

Sullivan decides to investigate Sadie's death as well as the other two and starts to see links between all the cases, linking corrupt politicians, construction, the Millennium Dome and the 2012 Olympics.

Extras

Trailer

Outtakes - nothing that's missed really from the main feature, although the combined set of outtakes is quite long - I ended up switching them off thinking that they'd never end.

Overall

Well here's a turn up for the books. Never thought I'd ever see a film with Vinnie Jones and Dickens at the centre. And an experienced supporting cast in Derek Jacobi, Vanessa Redgrave, Gareth Hunt and Kenny Lynch. Sadly the film never lives up to expectations, although admittedly they were never great.

The problem is with casting Jones as a bit of a wimpy journalist and in a lead role to boot. I've not seen much of Jones' acting career so far but he seems more comfortable in a supporting role and isn't yet ready for a lead, although I'm guessing he's going to be marketed in a Jason Statham type way. Jacobi is as great as he always is, but ultimately you're left wondering why he bothered. The rest of the acting is pretty stilted and may well be suited to the US market which tends to like this stereotypical look at London but I doubt this will pick up many British fans. It doesn't help that there the onscreen coupling of Jones and Julie Cox just feels sledgehammered in and a bit stilted, although at least both the audience and Jones are spared the embarrassment of a love scene.

The core of this film is supposed to be a mystery in a lost Dickens manuscript, but there is no mystery, it's just a story told in staggered flashback by Jacobi in his second role as famous author Dickens (the other being a mysterious almost demented tramp). I knew where that one was going long before the end, and as to the supernatural twist at the end. Well, slightly bizarre is all I can say. Much more bizarre is the stand-off between the heroes and the villains at the end, I can't recall ever seeing such an incompetent finale on film than this and I've seen some bad films in my time at Reviewer Towers.



A couple of nice but unoriginal ideas that are ultimately let down by a dodgy script. I thought that Jones was at least trying to make a good fist of the role provided to him, but his limited skills let him down. That's not his fault though and he's far better than PH Moriarty, Jason Flemyng, Vanessa Redgrave and Mark Asante put together, and I never thought I'd include Redgrave in a list like that.

I guess the only thing left to add is that this film made its debut as a freebie with the Daily Mail, and that tells you all you need to know.