The Woman in Black

February 5, 2012 - Harry Potter sees dead people in this suspense thriller from 2012. Daniel Radcliffe stars along with Ciarán Hines, Janet McTeer and a gloomy Yorkshire atmosphere.

Radcliffe plays Arthur Kipps, a young attorney in turn-of-the-century England. He was happily married, but his wife died giving birth to their son, Joseph. Now Kipps is a depressed single dad who has trouble focusing on work. His boss gives him one last chance and sends him to a village on the Yorkshire coast to sort out the affairs of a recently deceased widow.

As soon as Kipps gets into town, people start giving him the hairy eyeball. They don't even want him to go to the widow's estate outside the village; they just want him to leave ASAP. But, Kipps will have none of it and stubbornly coerces a ride to the estate. Once there, instead of sorting through the mess of paperwork, Kipps spends most of his time exploring the house and having close encounters with the woman in black and several ghostly children.

Overall review: *** (perhaps more like 2.5, but I'll round up) Not too bad. There's not a lot of what might be described as action here, and the film's not heavy on dialogue. But, the story is told effectively, Radcliffe does a good job with his facial expressions, and there are a couple of jump-out-of-your-seat moments. While the film is slow in spots, it's not terribly long, so it doesn’t wear out its welcome.