This indie feature film, brought to you by Paramore Productions, pays homage to the Great British gangster genre. While its been over twenty years since Guy Richie hit the screen with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, while there have been a slew of gangster movies coming out of Britain ever since. From the magnificent Sexy Beast to the less than splendid Essex Boys, while for every Eastern Promises or In Bruges there has been a Revolver or a Craig Fairbrass ;) The genre is constantly up and down more times than an incontinence pensioner.
Director Tim Thorne's first feature has a lot going for it as the characters weave in and out of the films narrative, culminating in an amusing finale that contained some genuine laughs and witty one liners. Nicely shot (no shaky cinematography to convey the fake 'edgery' that often gets lazily inserted when it comes to low budget film making) The camera movements are fluid, smooth and well suited to the action unfolding.
A couple of criticisms from me would be in the pacing, which at times seems slightly off, forty or so minutes into its running time, but the momentum picks up in time for the thoroughly enjoyable finale. Along the way I did also feel that some of the acting became more of a caricature of the genre and its here that I feel the film is at its weakest, it doesn't seem to try and approach the genre from a different angle. Its such well trodden ground and to make a film of this caliber stand out in a crowd, its what I personally look for when watching films from this genre.
That being said and on the whole, this film is a commendable achievement for a first time feature director. Special kudo's have to go to actors Philip Alexander Baker as the deadpan refrained Eddie and James Stannard's angry and often explosive Sully whose contrast between each other provided me with the most laughs and a near perfect dynamic.