Complicity

Vile, violent, but intelligent thriller about a writer for an expose newspaper shocked to discover that everybody he was going to ruin in the press is turning up dead and all the clues point to him as the killer.

The premise may not sound like much, but just give this film a chance and watch it. You'll be surprised. It goes in directions that you would never expect, yet they are all credible. It also doesn't go for the easy answers in trying to wrap up it's little mystery. As good as the whole film was I never expected them to create a good ending for it, but yet again the script surprised me there too. A very good film.

Rated R; Graphic Violence, Profanity, Drug Use, Adult Themes, Sexuality.

First I read the book, which is highly recommendable, and I have it as one of my top books ever. Later on I watched the film, and I found it good. I think the characters are casted very well, except perhaps William, but, on the other hand, Keely Hawes plays Yvonne very well.

I think the film misses out some important information on the book that give sense to the story. The film changes a couple of things here and there and does not fully respect the final, which I find a bad error. I think if the film had been 30 minutes longer it would have been a world success.

My review seems negative but only because the book is superb. Of course the plot is good, the actors are good and the story flows well. I do wonder, however, if I have been able to follow the whole plot because I know the book inside out or because it is well told. I had the feeling a couple of times that the story was told in chunks.

Do watch the film, but read the book first

Its a shame that people get annoyed at low budget films and dont watch them to the end as there is some mighty fine moments in this film that must be seen to be enjoyed. It was a massive task trying to take Ian Banks novel and putting it on the big screen anyway and this film was possibly only about a tenth of as good as the book. Which still makes it very good although you can never truly realise how sick the killer really is, i mean they talk about what the killer has done and in some instances you actually see it but........its a low budget movie....it doesnt want to depend on gore .....it wants to make you think about what is hapening and more importantly WHY it is happening. Ever read a newspaper report about a daft judge giving stupid sentence and the criminal getting away with it...well this film is about that and what would happen if one man lost the rails and decided to go up against people that deserved the attention that they should have shown to others....or lack thereof. Great!!

We were rather suspicious of this movie when we first sat down to watch it. My husband and I had both read the book and liked it very much, and since we hadn't heard of the adaptation before we suspected that it probably wouldn't be much good.

Boy, were we ever wrong.

The movie is slightly too gory at times for my personal taste, but then, so is the book. And it's hard not to be, in a story about the hunt for a mad but incredibly clever serial killer. The setting is just right, and the casting as well, and the story unfolds at a pace that just allows you to understand what's going on before the next twist to the plot.

Very highly recommended.

In Japan, this film is given the title Psycho 2001. The cover of the DVD shows a writhing figure in a bloody bathtub, apparently boiling in a stew of guts and organs after ritual disembowelment.

No such scene exists in the film. This title and cover seem to be one more chapter in the harsh treatment this film has suffered at the hands of distributors.

And it is undeserved treatment. This is a classy thriller, Johnny Lee Millar giving his trademark performance in moral ambiguity as a clapped-out journalist looking to break a huge scoop on government conspiracy. As he digs deeper, he finds the story becoming less about the wicked ways of the world, and more about the murky secrets of his own past.

The Highland locations are well used in sweeping helicopter shots, the pacing swift as journo Cameron moves through a sea of bodies, a mysterious Deep Throat figure keeping him one step behind the bad guy(s). Brian Cox is as solid as ever, rehearsing his bad-ass law enforcer routine before Bourne. Millar stands up to a demanding role, especially in the final third when all his chickens come home to roost, and regret, anguish, atonement, cynicism and hope are all required to be shown.

Complicity appears to have been overlooked by most theatres, distributors, award-givers and reviewers. A shame really, much worse British films have travelled abroad in recent years. Complicity is fraught, character-driven, quirky, kinky and pays off at the end. Well worth checking out.