New Town Killers

This is genuinely one of the worst films I've had to sit through (I've rated over 1,800 films so far and not many have got this low a score). Despite being quite a short film it dragged on for what felt like hours - quite what Dougray Scott was doing in this I'll never know (charity? slumming it?). He does what he can with a poor script, snarling away and making the rest of the cast look poor, but ultimately you don't care about his character or any of the others.

I can appreciate it was made on a budget, but it seems to have also been made with no professional supervision. Every scene was amateur, no sense of timing (I can quite comfortably state this is the worst 'chase' movie I've ever seen) and there isn't enough of a plot to keep anyone interested.

A script this poor should never have been made. There is an attempt at social commentary, monied classes playing psychopathic games with the underclass simply because they can. There is an attempt to tick the thriller genre boxes, but all terribly clichéd - a jump across rooftops, flashing red tracker lights, a stalk through a nightclub (and switched identities that resolve this), hiding in the stalls in a toilet... There is not one original thought or scene in this whole film. The dialogue is full of clichés - "I am your friend" - and often lacks plausibility. For example, the protagonist is enraged when he discovers his sister has run up a debt of 12,000 pounds. The hunters offer him exactly 12,000 pounds to be hunted. When he calls to accept, he asks: "How much are you offering again?" The theme seems to take issue with the corrupting influence of money but has a flippant attitude towards male prostitution. This kind of puerile writing makes it impossible to talk about the performances, the actors simply have nothing to work with. This is a po-faced, poorly executed film, the main achievement being to confirm that whatever talents Jobson has, screen writing is not one of them. Two stars for some nice photography of one of my favourite cities.

This film's Edinburgh set crime thriller, which dips into murky chase torture at times has a sense that 'Lola' (the modern-ish German classic) is going to be parodied.

Obviously pitched at being outside of actual reality, where wealthy landlords, pimps or drug dealers (known in the film as 'private bankers') not only extort their penniless customers but also bait and taunt them, as in some cruel, sadistic game.

Unfortunately, this is no The Third Man (shadowy sinister characters lurking on dark corners), Lola (the 'chase' seems to be mainly driving about in a Jaguar saloon) whilst The Trainspotting vibes resonate most. Except, there simply aren't the oddly likable, charismatic characters in that, for a start. There's quite a few Hitchcockian twists with a silent, weaving camera teasing us, though.

It seems that the whole thing passed me by without making much of an impression. Not sure exactly where it fell down, maybe a bit in each. I daresay I'll have forgotten it by tomorrow. There have been US equivalents that have worked better, maybe for being more villainous, or better written, or better everything. It's not a bad effort, though and worth watching if it's free and not much else is on. Equally, it won't sink the indie Brit film scene but very definitely, unlike Trainspotting, won't set it alight either.

The Encyclopaedia of Film Noir reckons that films have to be American to qualify as film noir. As a generalisation I can accept this but nor as a universal truth. New Town Kill is British (Scottish if you like) and it is clearly a film noir or, at least, a neo-noir.

I'm honestly deeply impressed with this British film, a phrase you will seldom hear me utter. Most Brit films are an embarrassment to me, being usually limp, unfunny and completely lacking in cool, style or engaging story. I'm glad to see the back of the Film Council and all the overpaid "executives" who dole out what remains of their money, after their fat salaries have been accounted for, for another flaccid waste of time.

This film, on the other hand, IS cool, engaging and genuinely exciting in a way that movies should be. The budget is clearly small but the acting talent on display is massive. The direction and writing by Richard Jobson are excellent and I just love the sheer nihilism of the plot and the fact that everything does not need to be justified or explained. The "villain" is completely amoral and the "hero", apart from family allegiances, is ultimately not much different.

A British film can be film noir and New Town killers is the proof.

PS If IMDb is for genuine film lovers then why do glossy American blockbusters get hundreds of reviews whilst really interesting independent films or foreign language films (i.e. non-American films) end up with a handful of reviews like this one?

Having grown up in Edinburgh I expected to enjoy this film based on the comments of other reviewers. I also chose it for Dougray Scott who plays a mean if somewhat two dimensional villain in other films with entertaining results. I felt that the story was weak and rather predictable. However, that did not detract from the performance of the young male lead who I thought was excellent and utterly convincing as was his friend. Liz White continued to grow in my estimation with this performance having already seen her in "Life On Mars" and "A Short Stay in Switzerland". These actors far exceeded the capabilities of the script and the storyline and I will continue to watch for them in future releases. To be honest, their performances and the clever use of art and location in the film are the only reasons I have for giving this film a 7. If the score was for storyline alone, it would have garnered a 3.