ThiefHott Too much of everything

Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Robert J. Maxwell Anyone expecting a detailed police procedural might be disappointed. Ian Brady (Harris) and his girl friend, Myra Hindley (Peake), picked up and killed a number of children in the vicinity of Manchester and buried the bodies on the nearby moors. You have never seen such desolate places as the moors -- occasional rocky outcroppings, black and muddy lowlands, and hill after hill of chill windswept grass. The only thing missing is Baskerville Hall. Manchester is a grimy old city of brick, residue of the industrial revolution.The dialect isn't easy to interpret, not for me anyway. "What about her?" becomes "Wha a Bow Wow?" There's not even a helpful glottal stop after "Wha". But the film at least spares us the pleas and screams of the murdered children. These two maniacs taped their killings. The tapes are mentioned in passing but not heard, as if they were just another minor piece of a jigsaw puzzle.And, when you come right down to it, it isn't so much the story of the two murderers, Brady and Hindley, but rather the tale of Hindley's anguished sister Maureen (Froggatt) and her not-too-bright husband David Smith (McNulty). The two killers try to involve David in some scheme to rob a bank and, evidently to show him they mean business, Brady slaughters an innocent captive with an axe, while David gapes.The two Smiths run to the police. Brady blames Smith; Hindley has nothing to say. Some of the bodies are discovered, Brady is sent up for life and so is Hindley. But all of that is almost beside the point, as we watch the Smith family suffer the outrage of the community, spat on, their apartment vandalized. Mostly we follow the entirely innocent Maureen, uncertain about her husband's involvement, grieving over the recent loss of her baby.There are multiple shots of cute newborn babies, inserts of toddlers, weeping of adults, arguments, split-ups, and reconciliations. It begins to resemble the story of Maureen and David, already down on their heels, having their lives irreparably damaged by two interfering nuts.The photography is splendid and the direction competent, except for all those baby shots, which threaten to turn the story into a a family movie of a kid's literal birthday. And the doubts and spats between Maureen and David echo those found on afternoon domestic dramas.But the acting can't be faulted. There's no weakness in the casting either. As Ian Brady, the philosophical brains behind the affair, a devoté of Nietzsche and de Sade, Sean Harris delivers the goods. He's all nose and no chin, and has the personality of a glacier. Peake, as Hindley, wears the tarty make up and peroxided do of the early 1960s. She's actually an attractive woman under all that plaster but has the ability to transform her features into a mask of hatred when the situation demands it.It's a nice job but it's also slow and spends too much time on peripheral figures. The Smiths' problems could have been sketched in less time. What many of us would like to know is what impelled Brady and Hindley to murder young children they'd never met before. We can put ourselves in the place of someone who murders a spouse or a friend. Those victims are people whose opinions we care about. They can hurt us. But serial murders are preposterous. The causes don't lie in Neitzsche or de Sade. Those only serve as justifications for things Brady already wanted to do. But we get no insight into his character, and scant insight into Hindley's.

bill-45-303164 A very well made and well portrayed production with very good actors, as a resident of Saddleworth all my life I remember the actual event vividly and the Saddleworth moors shots I recognise well as a walker on these moors often in the past.The part of Maureen Smith played by Joanne Froggat was in my opinion extremely well portrayed and made one feel sorry for the plight of a working class and struggling woman suddenly being dragged into such an horrific set of circumstances and have her world turned upside down.Maxine Peake who plays the roll of Myra Hindley, I thought also played her part extremely well as I am more used to seeing her in comedy rolls it must have been very hard for all the cast to to act out this harrowing production even more so as it is a true story from a well published case and has not yet been concluded and may never be so.

BJJManchester This is the first known dramatisation of the infamous Moors Murders around the Northern English city of Manchester in the 1960's.Even four decades on,the case still provokes utter revulsion at such evil and depraved acts of murder.It was apparently made with full co-operation of the victims' families,which in hindsight was a sensible and sensitive decision by the filmmakers involved.It could quite easily have lapsed into sensationalism and exploitation;that it doesn't is a tribute to all involved;it is very well made with excellent performances all round;Sean Harris and Maxine Peake(previously better known for her comedic roles)are chilling and believable as the callously evil Brady and Hindley;newcomer Michael McNulty gives a very fine performance as the naive,easily-led David Smith,but Joanne Froggatt is outstanding as Hindley's sister Maureen Smith.In a part that could easily have turned into rampant hysteria,Ms Froggatt is very moving and heartbreaking as the decent-minded young woman whose life is more or less ruined by the horrific actions of her sibling.It is arguable that the stress involved led to Maureen's early death aged only 34.The one large problem with the production is with the story being so unremittingly harrowing and unpleasant,one is somewhat confused as to what to say in conclusion.That it is very well made,acted and produced,certainly.That we do not see the killings themselves(with the savage exception of Edward Evans,very brutal and in semi-darkness),and none of the gruesome details related to them is praiseworthy;but the extreme nastiness surrounding the whole case still makes for a very dubious and disturbing cumulative effort despite it's considerable technical quality.In my view,a more documentary approach to the subject would've been the correct way to dramatise such a story,but nevertheless full marks to cast and crew for their sensitivity in handling such a dreadfully grim subject.

beresfordjd Sean Harris and Maxine Peake really bring the monsters that were the Moors Murderers to life. Harris is fantastically disturbing,chilling and creepy as the ultimate manipulator and chief instigator of the most infamous series of murders in the last century. George Costigan as the policeman is also seen performing at the top of his game. I was worried about the way this extremely sensitive subject was going to be handled but it was perfectly done. Still shocking but not graphic apart from one scene of the murder of Eric Evans. That shocked me and I thought I was unshockable after a lifetime of watching all genres of movie. I never imagined that anyone would tackle this gruesome story for many more years but it is a story crying out to be dramatised. We never learn about why the couple did what they did but we do see the devastating effect it had on the people surrounding them. I do not think I will see anything which will stay with me for so long as this will.