A trigger-happy, wisecracking, loose cannon who's been sent to Paris to stop a terrorist attack. Wax leads James on a white- Knuckle shotting spree through the Parisian underworld that has James praying for his desk job. But when James discovers he's a target of the same crime ring they're trying to bust, he realizes there's no turning back...and that Wax himself might be his only hope for making it through the next forty-eight hours alive. 

Walter Gassman ( Daniel Duval ) had received a huge amount as kickback from the constructor Harriburton that has interest to construct buildings in the poor area and uses the situation to force the President of France ( Philippe Torreton ) to authorize to nuke five towers in the district. The teenager with the film is hunted by the police but he delivers the memory card to Leito ( David Belle ) meanwhile Damien calls him from the precinct asking for help. The friends team-up with five dangerous bosses to gather evidences to prove to the president that Gassman has provoked the conflict in their district.

 I will admit that some of the flashbacks become confusing, but what’s up on the screen is engrossing. Deals are made with unscrupulous characters in order to fatten pockets and personally control the illegal machinations and vice of the criminal element. It’s no-holds barred with a great deal of police brutality as those attempting to expose the wrong doings perpetrated are methodically eliminated. 

At times, things do slow to a snail’s pace and one gets the feeling of stretching to justify three full length running endeavors, padding is the term that comes to mind. Explanations are also murky at times with dialogue in dialect sometimes hard to understand. The first film had English subtitles, the other two did not . I guess it was thought that the viewer would get used to the dialect and understand it by the time the first film was under one’s belt.

 The first film takes place in 1974 and shows how a young newspaperman (Andrew Garfield) sees the terrifying connection between perpetrators and the upper echelons of Yorkshire power while investigating child abductions and murders. This segment is directed by Julian Jarrold.  It’s 1980 in the second film directed by James Marsh. A veteran police officer (Paddy Consadine) is sent from Manchester to take over the investigation of heinous child crimes, but he, by his honesty, incites opposition by his methods and the wrath of the corrupt on the force.  The third in the series, directed by Anand Tucker, has a detective (David Morrissey) in 1983, seeing similarities in a new abduction that he investigated in the 70s with a man convicted and sentenced. Corruption again rears its ugly head as a local solicitor (Mark Addy) takes up the condemned man’s cause, seeing great irregularities in the man’s admitting to the crimes: coercion by the police and railroaded by his own lawyer.

 One can call “RED RIDING” modern noir with gritty and muted color, plus the interplay in law enforcement, it brings to mind the Helen Mirran Masterpiece Theatre series in which she played a British superintendant of police. This film trilogy asks the question: What does it take to bring redemption to an almost impossible and controlled situation as good people cannot seem to succeed against the evil of those who stand for and are supposed to be the good of society?

 Some lines uttered in the films are noteworthy and give much food for thought:
 “This is the North where we do what we want.” (The law and order thus stating.)
 “We’re the flowers in the dustbin. We’re the poison in your human machine. We’re the future, your future.”
 “But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.”
 “Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”

 “RED RIDING” is an undertaking that deserves your attention as a filmgoer. It will simultaneously be available on IFC Film’s video on demand and available to over 50 million homes in all major markets, as well as having its theatrical run.