Jack Said

Yet another cheapo British gangster flick...yawn. This one stars Danny Dyer (surprise!)as a bit of a cockney rebellious rogue..or should that be webellious wogue.

It all seems to take place in a warehouse..even the scenes in someone's flat.The characters have names like "the fixer", "the guvnor" and even the rival gang are called "the other side gang". Its like watching children playing at gangster stories..and about as believable.

Simon Phillips is an unconvincing action hero to say the least and the baddies all have bald heads cockney accents and long black overcoats.

Ashlie Walker overacts but that might because the rest of the cast are so wooden.

Apparently JACK SAID is the middle part of a trilogy, although after watching this misfire I have to say I'm in no hurry to watch the other instalments. This is Cockney gangster film-making at its very worst, a tired mess of a storyline propping up a film chock-full of bad acting and worse.

The lead actor here, Simon Phillips, is undoubtedly the worst thing about this production. Watching this chubby guy wandering around attempting to do 'presence' and 'attitude' is frankly an embarrassment. His supposedly quick-witted humour is even worse, and I was hoping one of the other characters would lamp him before long. Needless to say that they never do.

The narrative is all over the place. Danny Dyer features heavily as a friend of the lead, but is off the screen for long periods of time and doesn't really contribute much when he's on it. Instead we get the usual low-rent gangster hokum nonsense, and whoever decided to put Ashlie Walker as the main villain needs their head examined; an average episode of HOLLYOAKS would be a better fit, I think. At least David O'Hara has the sense to only appear in a scene or two of this nonsense.

I saw this last night at the cinema and I'm glad it's out on DVD soon as I'm going to get it and watch it again. I thought for an independent low-budget feature, this was a considerably impressive effort. It may not have the money of Sin City – which is clearly an influence for the graphic novels and the films – but they have worked with whatever they had to achieve great production values.

The opening is a massive nod to its graphic novel roots before bringing us into a slightly more recognisable setting but still retaining its noir elements. Scot Simon Phillips is perfectly cast as the everyman-leading man. It's a nice touch that the "name" in the film, Danny Dyer, supports here rather than leads and the predominantly un-famous cast means that we're seeing characters rather than actors laying characters. That said, the two big names, Dyer and David O'Hara, put in often scene-stealing appearances.

Larger that-life in some parts, the characters are clearly based on the graphic novel approach where everything can be in your face, and it works. Ashlie Walker impresses as the sexy psycho seeking to usurp Daddy and Terry Stone is a combination of menacing and funny as the Guv'nor's second in command, 'The Fixer'. It's also impressive that we've finally seen a British gangster film with very strong female characters. Rebecca Keatley and Rita Ramnani provide the "good" to Walkers "bad" and achieve convincingly naturalistic performances.

There are certainly elements of other gangster and noir films. References to the Big Combo, Reservoir Dogs, Sin City, Pulp Fiction and Get Carter abound, but nothing seems lifted, more occasionally treading were others have already tread (thought this isn't always a bad thing). The plot's MacGuffin – a box with mysterious and never-explained contents – is a film staple seen in Ronin and Pulp Fiction, but this is merely a device to propel events forward. The voice-over is of course classic noir – but it's refreshing to hear it as we see London streets rather than American ones.

I can't think of another British film that has even attempted noir in recent years, let alone adapting elements from a graphic novel, and this is a very worthy effort.

This the second of the "Jack" movies and was an improvement from the first "Jack Says" with more detailed skyline shots of London and better camera angles maybe the increased budget was helpful. The Acting from Simon Phillips just gets better and better and is a fast rising star who will one day be a household name, I just hope he doesn't get stuck in an Eastenders character as he has a lot to offer. OK, he's notably put on a little weight in this movie compared to the first "Jack" movie but fortunately it doesn't spoil his character so that doesn't matter. There are lots of twist's and turns but you find your way as it goes and I got hooked and can't wait to see the third "Jack Falls" as there is unfinished business that I and Jack need to know. It's a unfortunate Mike Reid and Rula Lenska weren't here or unable to be there as they were so good in the first movie but this movie does hold up on it's own without the big guns although Danny Dyer does a superb job working with Simon. This is a raw gritty London movie relatively very low budget class movie compared to Hollywood films but is the sort of film production that is a great change from the usual gloss. This movie has it's own style with it's dark "Noir" mixed with some dark colour, harsh language, blood and guns quite a violent series well worth a visit for some great escapism ….I loved it.

Interesting that those reviewing this negatively seem completely unaware of the original and that any confusion only arises from not knowing this and not having seen the original.

As for unbelievable characters...well that's a first isn't it. No movie has ever had characters that one doesn't come across in real life. (/sarcasm)

I'm not sure it was worth a prequel, although a couple of things from the original were explained so it had its uses, not least seeing the relationship with Erin and having a better understanding of her reaction when 'Peanut' re-entered her life in the first one.

Altogether, not a bad follow up to the original.

I'm keen to see what the third one offers.