This new review takes a look at a newer film compared to the films that have recently been reviewed here on Cine-Apocalypse.com. Anyway, im taking a look at London Boulevard, the latest film from screen writer William Monahan and starring Colin Farrell and Keira Knightly. Check it out...
Ah the British gangster film, that most clichéd of sub genres, gets a sort of sophisticated make over with London Boulevard, a film written and directed by an American and based on a book by Ken Bruen, LB (that's what it shall be referred to) thankfully avoids the whole Guy Richie mockney cheese that saw so many lesser imitators with it's story line. More intone to Donald Cammel and Nicholas Roeg's 1970 film Performance, LB does however seem to take a leaf out of Nick Love's school of writing where every sentence with the word 'c**t', which at times does come across as needless and almost as though Monahan sat and watched as many Brit gangster films as he could.
But LB is so much more than that word, it follows a former gangster (Farrell) released from prison after 3 years as he tries to stay out of the underworld but circumstances keep pulling him back in. To avoid this he gets a job (sort of) working as a handyman for a reclusive film star who has become a sort of Howard Hughes type character played by Keira Knightly who lives in a large London house with David Thewlis whose position is never explained. Farrell is contacted by mean mumbling head gangster Ray Winston who tries to get him to work for him. I'm going to stop here because the plot of LB is such a fucking brain scrambler and almost nonsensical. You see the film is only 99 minutes long and hardly anything prior to the last 30 minutes is ever explained.
LB does boast a stand out cast. Colin Farrell is very very good as Mitchell the lead character and although he sports a rather dodgy cockney accent throughout the film, he manages to look cool in his suits and leather jackets, Ray Winston spends almost the entire movie mumbling his lines to a point where i had to access the subtitles option on the DVD just so i could understand what he was saying. Winston is usually pretty good playing the mean mother-fucker roles but here he just seemed like he could give a shit and he looked like Jim Royal going to a wedding throughout.
Keira Knightly was pretty good, I have to admit though that i do actually quite like miss Knightly in almost everything she does from Love Actually to this, she is a very talented actress but does however need to broaden her roles. Anna Friel was great as Briony, Mitchell's sister, Friel's portrayal of the alcoholic sibling is one of the stand out performances in the film and the woman is gorgeous too boot.
To be perfectly honest though, my favourite character in the whole film was David Thewlis' Jordan, the washed up actor turned drug addict who looks like Donald Sutherland in Kelly's Heroes but sounded like Ian McKellen. Strange, he was so good. One actor very under used in LB is Stephen Graham who i am a big champion of, he should have had a much larger part in this film.
William Monahan's direction is very good, for a man who's screenplays have been filmed by Martin Scorcese and Ridley Scott, his shooting style is nice, it flows very well. The only downfall the film has is it's convoluted plot which like i stated previously isn't even worth recounting.
The Major plus point the film has is it's exceptional use of music, a soundtrack of 60s-70s brit rock from bands such as The Rolling Stones to more modern bands like Kasabian, but a good soundtrack does not make a good film, and although i did enjoy LB, it's not really that great but i do applaud Mr. Monahan for trying to give us a more original take on the the Brit Gangster genre, the man just missed the mark, this could have and should have been the epic British equivalent of Goodfellas or Once Upon A Time In America but unfortunately ends up being just another brit gangster film.
For stand out UK gangster films, i suggest Gangster No.1 or Layer Cake. But London Boulevard is still worth a rental.
FILM: 5/10
Ah the British gangster film, that most clichéd of sub genres, gets a sort of sophisticated make over with London Boulevard, a film written and directed by an American and based on a book by Ken Bruen, LB (that's what it shall be referred to) thankfully avoids the whole Guy Richie mockney cheese that saw so many lesser imitators with it's story line. More intone to Donald Cammel and Nicholas Roeg's 1970 film Performance, LB does however seem to take a leaf out of Nick Love's school of writing where every sentence with the word 'c**t', which at times does come across as needless and almost as though Monahan sat and watched as many Brit gangster films as he could.
But LB is so much more than that word, it follows a former gangster (Farrell) released from prison after 3 years as he tries to stay out of the underworld but circumstances keep pulling him back in. To avoid this he gets a job (sort of) working as a handyman for a reclusive film star who has become a sort of Howard Hughes type character played by Keira Knightly who lives in a large London house with David Thewlis whose position is never explained. Farrell is contacted by mean mumbling head gangster Ray Winston who tries to get him to work for him. I'm going to stop here because the plot of LB is such a fucking brain scrambler and almost nonsensical. You see the film is only 99 minutes long and hardly anything prior to the last 30 minutes is ever explained.
LB does boast a stand out cast. Colin Farrell is very very good as Mitchell the lead character and although he sports a rather dodgy cockney accent throughout the film, he manages to look cool in his suits and leather jackets, Ray Winston spends almost the entire movie mumbling his lines to a point where i had to access the subtitles option on the DVD just so i could understand what he was saying. Winston is usually pretty good playing the mean mother-fucker roles but here he just seemed like he could give a shit and he looked like Jim Royal going to a wedding throughout.
Keira Knightly was pretty good, I have to admit though that i do actually quite like miss Knightly in almost everything she does from Love Actually to this, she is a very talented actress but does however need to broaden her roles. Anna Friel was great as Briony, Mitchell's sister, Friel's portrayal of the alcoholic sibling is one of the stand out performances in the film and the woman is gorgeous too boot.
To be perfectly honest though, my favourite character in the whole film was David Thewlis' Jordan, the washed up actor turned drug addict who looks like Donald Sutherland in Kelly's Heroes but sounded like Ian McKellen. Strange, he was so good. One actor very under used in LB is Stephen Graham who i am a big champion of, he should have had a much larger part in this film.
William Monahan's direction is very good, for a man who's screenplays have been filmed by Martin Scorcese and Ridley Scott, his shooting style is nice, it flows very well. The only downfall the film has is it's convoluted plot which like i stated previously isn't even worth recounting.
The Major plus point the film has is it's exceptional use of music, a soundtrack of 60s-70s brit rock from bands such as The Rolling Stones to more modern bands like Kasabian, but a good soundtrack does not make a good film, and although i did enjoy LB, it's not really that great but i do applaud Mr. Monahan for trying to give us a more original take on the the Brit Gangster genre, the man just missed the mark, this could have and should have been the epic British equivalent of Goodfellas or Once Upon A Time In America but unfortunately ends up being just another brit gangster film.
For stand out UK gangster films, i suggest Gangster No.1 or Layer Cake. But London Boulevard is still worth a rental.
FILM: 5/10
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