STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Jimmy Vickers (Danny Dyer) is a soldier who's returned home to find an even more fierce battlefield in his own country. His parents have been viciously murdered in retaliation after his dad intervened while a young woman was being car jacked, killing the brother of a gang leader in the process. Vickers systematically hunts the perpetrators down, all the while trying to stay one step ahead of the police, those closest to him and his commanders from his old battalion who know just what a psychologically damaged loose cannon he is.
If our films serve as a sample of our culture to those on the foreign markets, what must the impression be of us as a nation in the eyes of everyone else at the moment? What kind of blood crazy, psychopathic, sub human degenerates must we be coming across as at the moment, when the sadistic, blood splattered violence on display in the likes of Vendetta and other films like it, is what they see? The sort of demented lack of regard for human life and suffering that Quentin Tarantino might be able to make something of, and would make L.A. gang members wince. Well, Dyer's lead character seems to offer some kind of clarification for all the blood letting in one of the films more deeper interludes, when he states how the 2011 riots were just the tip of the iceberg and the existence of a new breed of lawless hooligans has emerged that can only be dealt with by getting a taste of their own medicine, hinting at a social conscience lurking beneath the surface, with a little dash of equally social insight to guide it along.
The big problem here is what should serve as a simple, straight forward revenge thriller tries to become more intricate and multi-layered, when the sub plot emerges of Dyer's former commanders trying to reel him back in and get him under control, causing the film to lose it's sense of pace and veer wildly off course, meaning by the end it all feels a lot longer than it has been. The script is compounded by a lot of overly laborious dialogue that serves as an even sloppier attempt to add some depth, and an interesting supporting cast including Roxanne McKee, Vincent Regan, Bruce Payne and Ricci Harnett can't do as much as they could.
Mainly, it's just a big tasteless, gratuitous exploitation film which, despite a dynamic set up and slick production values, fails to make a really lasting impression. **
Jimmy Vickers (Danny Dyer) is a soldier who's returned home to find an even more fierce battlefield in his own country. His parents have been viciously murdered in retaliation after his dad intervened while a young woman was being car jacked, killing the brother of a gang leader in the process. Vickers systematically hunts the perpetrators down, all the while trying to stay one step ahead of the police, those closest to him and his commanders from his old battalion who know just what a psychologically damaged loose cannon he is.
If our films serve as a sample of our culture to those on the foreign markets, what must the impression be of us as a nation in the eyes of everyone else at the moment? What kind of blood crazy, psychopathic, sub human degenerates must we be coming across as at the moment, when the sadistic, blood splattered violence on display in the likes of Vendetta and other films like it, is what they see? The sort of demented lack of regard for human life and suffering that Quentin Tarantino might be able to make something of, and would make L.A. gang members wince. Well, Dyer's lead character seems to offer some kind of clarification for all the blood letting in one of the films more deeper interludes, when he states how the 2011 riots were just the tip of the iceberg and the existence of a new breed of lawless hooligans has emerged that can only be dealt with by getting a taste of their own medicine, hinting at a social conscience lurking beneath the surface, with a little dash of equally social insight to guide it along.
The big problem here is what should serve as a simple, straight forward revenge thriller tries to become more intricate and multi-layered, when the sub plot emerges of Dyer's former commanders trying to reel him back in and get him under control, causing the film to lose it's sense of pace and veer wildly off course, meaning by the end it all feels a lot longer than it has been. The script is compounded by a lot of overly laborious dialogue that serves as an even sloppier attempt to add some depth, and an interesting supporting cast including Roxanne McKee, Vincent Regan, Bruce Payne and Ricci Harnett can't do as much as they could.
Mainly, it's just a big tasteless, gratuitous exploitation film which, despite a dynamic set up and slick production values, fails to make a really lasting impression. **