I was really looking forward to this one, after thoroughly enjoying Dead man shoes, which was a great film....
The movie starts and the intro segments begin to play, introducing the two boys Romeo and Gavin. My first thought was how terrible the actor who played Gavin was (Ben Marshall). He appeared to be unnatural, annoying and generally sounded like he was reading off a script. But i was willing to look past that...
A good 25 minutes in and i'm still waiting for something interesting to happen. Morell (Paddy Considine) had been introduced and had appeared to have developed a strange relationship with the boys, and i was left wondering why the boys parents would even let their boys be associated with this strange man, who appeared to be 'not quite the full ticket' in the first place.
The scene in the clothes shop where Morell was dressed in a shell suit delivering gifts to Romeo's sister was cringe worthy, and there was no way in hell that his sister would have had anything to do with this weirdo after that performance, which makes the film seem even more unrealistic when she agrees to go on a date with him...The kissing scene was even more far fetched, and this just wouldn't happen in the real world, even if she did feel slightly sorry for him...
The film takes a sinister turn shortly after this and provides the first bit of action...My heart skipped a beat when Morell pulls out a knife on Gavin, and it was a quite a random shock. I thought 'ok' this film is going somewhere now...But when Romeo returns from the ice cream truck and finds his 'best' friend crying with his head in his hands, there is no way that romeo would just disregard it the way he did, considering he had been so loyal to him from the start. He would have demanded to know what was wrong and would have been suspicious that Morell had done something...
I thought Morell would start terrorising Gavin after this but nothing happened. I guess his revenge was taking Romeo away from him...
The film just plods along with minimal action and you are left wondering why Romeo has abandoned his friend so easily and why he is so reluctant to even have anything to do with him. And i was also left wondering why his parents had not wised up to the situation and why they were still letting romeo hang around with Morell.
When Morell turns on romeo, after a failed attempt to bed his sister (which nearly resulted in rape), and proceeds to follow him around its obvious how the film will end (Frank Harper saving the day).
The scene at the end, where Morell is in Gavin's front garden refusing to leave, and seeking revenge is flawed. Is there no police in this town??? The first thing you would do if there was a psycho waiting outside your house is call the police. Not go out there and confront him yourself.
Romeo's dad arrives and gives Morell a minor beating. A very minor beating, considering this man had attempted to rape his daughter, and attack his son, and then stalk him.
I was left feeling unsatisfied after that.
Although i have not said many good things about this film, i will say that i did enjoy the rare bits of action the movie provided, and the general story line was good. It just had too many flaws for my liking and was slow in parts.
The final scene in the garden was horrible, and the magic show was unfunny and yet again quite cringe worthy.
This film is good in parts, buts lets face it, its no classic.
I'm guessing these high reviews are from die hard Shane Meadows fans, who will appreciate anything he does.
5 out of 10 from me.
The movie starts and the intro segments begin to play, introducing the two boys Romeo and Gavin. My first thought was how terrible the actor who played Gavin was (Ben Marshall). He appeared to be unnatural, annoying and generally sounded like he was reading off a script. But i was willing to look past that...
A good 25 minutes in and i'm still waiting for something interesting to happen. Morell (Paddy Considine) had been introduced and had appeared to have developed a strange relationship with the boys, and i was left wondering why the boys parents would even let their boys be associated with this strange man, who appeared to be 'not quite the full ticket' in the first place.
The scene in the clothes shop where Morell was dressed in a shell suit delivering gifts to Romeo's sister was cringe worthy, and there was no way in hell that his sister would have had anything to do with this weirdo after that performance, which makes the film seem even more unrealistic when she agrees to go on a date with him...The kissing scene was even more far fetched, and this just wouldn't happen in the real world, even if she did feel slightly sorry for him...
The film takes a sinister turn shortly after this and provides the first bit of action...My heart skipped a beat when Morell pulls out a knife on Gavin, and it was a quite a random shock. I thought 'ok' this film is going somewhere now...But when Romeo returns from the ice cream truck and finds his 'best' friend crying with his head in his hands, there is no way that romeo would just disregard it the way he did, considering he had been so loyal to him from the start. He would have demanded to know what was wrong and would have been suspicious that Morell had done something...
I thought Morell would start terrorising Gavin after this but nothing happened. I guess his revenge was taking Romeo away from him...
The film just plods along with minimal action and you are left wondering why Romeo has abandoned his friend so easily and why he is so reluctant to even have anything to do with him. And i was also left wondering why his parents had not wised up to the situation and why they were still letting romeo hang around with Morell.
When Morell turns on romeo, after a failed attempt to bed his sister (which nearly resulted in rape), and proceeds to follow him around its obvious how the film will end (Frank Harper saving the day).
The scene at the end, where Morell is in Gavin's front garden refusing to leave, and seeking revenge is flawed. Is there no police in this town??? The first thing you would do if there was a psycho waiting outside your house is call the police. Not go out there and confront him yourself.
Romeo's dad arrives and gives Morell a minor beating. A very minor beating, considering this man had attempted to rape his daughter, and attack his son, and then stalk him.
I was left feeling unsatisfied after that.
Although i have not said many good things about this film, i will say that i did enjoy the rare bits of action the movie provided, and the general story line was good. It just had too many flaws for my liking and was slow in parts.
The final scene in the garden was horrible, and the magic show was unfunny and yet again quite cringe worthy.
This film is good in parts, buts lets face it, its no classic.
I'm guessing these high reviews are from die hard Shane Meadows fans, who will appreciate anything he does.
5 out of 10 from me.