Rating: B
Dir: Colm Villa
Star: Toby Stephens, Jim Norton, James Cosmo, Patrick O’Kane
This interesting little movie is the first on the Showcase label, which is designed to offer an outlet for British and Irish product; if the rest are up to this standard, I’ll be very impressed. For it plays almost like a reverse version of The Crow: Luke Bradley’s son is abducted and killed, so he enlists the help of the gangs who run Londonderry [amazingly, this Irish film manages to avoid mentioning the troubles, which is a breath of fresh air!] to find the killer, who is summarily executed.
Doubts soon arise at to whether they got the right man — indeed, did they get their man at all, since he still seems to be popping up all over the place… The eventual explanation is the film’s weakest point, being unconvincing; however, until then this has been creepy and effective stuff with strong performances, assured direction and a script that carefully drips out the necessary information. While it will no doubt be promoted on the back of ‘Lock, Stock…’ as another British gangster film, this is something totally different, but no less appealing.