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Fresh from Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa , Colm Meaney’s slumped shoulders open and close debut director Nathan Todd’s intermittently convincing reflection on the Troubles.

A detective investigating the murders of former IRA members in Belfast, the haunted-looking Meaney carries much of the drama in a plot that muddies moral waters well but buckles under leaden pacing and overwritten dialogue.

Support from Malcolm Sinclair, Maggie Cronin and Belfast’s backstreets suggests an eye for faces and places but as recent accounts of Belfast’s history go, Shadow Dancer and Good Vibrations cut surer.

Kevin Harley is a freelance journalist with bylines at Total Film, Radio Times, The List, and others, specializing in film and music coverage. He can most commonly be found writing movie reviews and previews at GamesRadar+.