Riot

Another movie designed to get the London Tourist Bureau running for the hills. it is supposedly set during the big riots we experienced three years ago. In reality though, only the final scenes touch upon that major incident. Instead, we follow the life of a former hooligan now turned cop, and his attempts to juggle his new job with his old loutish friends, who either see him as a sell out, or a person who they can extract favours from.

There are about as many surprises here as finding a plastic toy in a Kinder Egg, as our anti-hero experiences the predictable dual pressures of dealing with human trash on the beat, and even worse garbage in the form of his 'mates' off it. How any right minded person would want to spend five seconds in the company of his former buddies I don't know, but at least he's making a bit of an effort to get away from them.

They are many, many breaks in the action to inform us that one scene took place ONE WEEK AGO, ONE HOUR AGO etc. You can tell it's trying to pretend it's telling a complex story, but this mediocre script is clearly nothing of the sort. Delusions of grandeur, perhaps. It's watchable, it's efficient, but aside from a rather upsetting sequence involving a serious assault on a female officer, there's little here to stir the imagination.

Even the Downer Ending has been done to death in this genre. As soon as our rogue lawman gets that look in his eyes, there's only one possible conclusion. So... file under 'average'. 5/10

This is most emphatically not yet another football hooligan movie. It's not Nick Love's The Sweeney either. In fact the film I was constantly reminded of was the 2011 film Rampart, because like that this is an exploration into the psyche of a dark avenging angel police officer. The film wants to be an examination of Broken Britain, or more specifically a broken London and, more successfully placed into the mix is the 2011 riots, the Afghan war, unemployment, sexual abuse, rising urban crime including drugs and gun crime. Unfortunately the script has a tendency only to pay lip service to these issues but somehow this less deeper exploration is perhaps fitting given that we see how these things affect Damien, a disturbed and damaged individual who you just now is going to reach boiling point from the off, you're just not sure how.

I am not surprised that so many people are disappointed by this film. They expected a cop thriller, an action flick probably, and instead they watched a complex and also confused psychological drama about violence, hooligans and the tough reality to be a cop when you have yourself major family problems. I was myself confused by the editing. To speak truly, I was lost, although I got the whole thing. I think it is a too ambitious but not enough monitored script. But certainly not uninteresting at all. Some pricks who don't understand it will say that's a bad movie. Shame on them. This is just an editing issue that jeopardizes the whole stiff and makes it too complicated for most of the audiences. Some very disturbing sequences, such as the female cop rape, in the underground parking. This film is far better than the ones which Simon Philips usually plays in. In summary, don't expect any gunshots or gangsters, but only brutality, cops and hooligans. A typical British noir social drama from UK. A trade mark for this country.

Poor dialogue, clumsy editing, terrible story. Some nice shots in it but avoid

One month before the title event, I'm not clear on what's going on or whether it has a connection with the title event.

We see the words "Two weeks before". "One week before". "One hour before". I don't know what happens at each of these times. I'm just saying we are told this. Not in a way that really makes clear what is happening when.

I'm not at all certain what is going on half the time or what the connection is to the title event. Between the accents and the curse words that get bleeped, it's difficult for me to follow anything.

What I do know is there are tragedies connected with the title event.

This movie has some pleasant moments, even a few laughs. But mostly it is depressing. And when there is violence, it is quite graphic. No guns. Just fists. The leading actors seem to do a good job and I'm sure the writing is well done. This just isn't the sort of thing I can enjoy.