I have mixed feelings about this movie.
First of all, the story is totally believable, with the brutish British policemen trying to survive in a legal and mediatic world, the stupid small minded crooks that survive just fine because they don't have to follow rules and the whole non-sense of this situation. I liked that.
The main character, though, was really hard to like. His methods are brutal and seem effective at first, until, through his pushing people to the edge, Statham's character all but causes the loss of life of some of his colleagues. He is completely unapologetic afterwards, which really annoyed me.
The homosexual sidekick seemed to exist for the sole purpose of giving some legitimacy to the bully cop, although he did provide some insight in the world the movie describes and the internal motivation of cops.
Aidan Gillen is his extroverted, brilliant self and I am starting to enjoy every movie he plays in, even if in this film he is a psychopathic cop killer with no real plan than a pointless revenge against people who arrested him in the past.
Bottom line: The ending is ironic, but I saw it coming a mile away. The film is not the usual Statham action film, instead it is a rather subtle critique on the British law enforcement environment. It has its ups and downs and, if you don't care about the underlying moral of the story, the film might seem a boring TV cop movie.
First of all, the story is totally believable, with the brutish British policemen trying to survive in a legal and mediatic world, the stupid small minded crooks that survive just fine because they don't have to follow rules and the whole non-sense of this situation. I liked that.
The main character, though, was really hard to like. His methods are brutal and seem effective at first, until, through his pushing people to the edge, Statham's character all but causes the loss of life of some of his colleagues. He is completely unapologetic afterwards, which really annoyed me.
The homosexual sidekick seemed to exist for the sole purpose of giving some legitimacy to the bully cop, although he did provide some insight in the world the movie describes and the internal motivation of cops.
Aidan Gillen is his extroverted, brilliant self and I am starting to enjoy every movie he plays in, even if in this film he is a psychopathic cop killer with no real plan than a pointless revenge against people who arrested him in the past.
Bottom line: The ending is ironic, but I saw it coming a mile away. The film is not the usual Statham action film, instead it is a rather subtle critique on the British law enforcement environment. It has its ups and downs and, if you don't care about the underlying moral of the story, the film might seem a boring TV cop movie.