Bonded by Blood

There have been a couple of previous films about the Essex Range Rover murders. Both were pretty forgettable but neither are anywhere near as bad as Bonded by Blood. It's quite a rare thing to have a film where every actor on display is no good. You usually get one stand out performance but with this movie everyone stinks. Tamer Hussan plays his usual role as Mokney Cockney Essex wide boy and you wouldn't expect any different from a one trick pony actor like him but it grates on you when there are people trying to out " Essex " him on screen. Terry Stone and Neil Maskell are so over the top with their acting it's laughable. I also have problem with the director of this mess. It must have taken great skill for Sacha Bennett to make a film look such a mess.It has no form or structure and events happen with no explanation while other threads are dropped and forgotten about. The only good thing about Bonded by Blood is that the Essex tosser Danny Dyer isn't in it but that's hardly a reason to watch this trash. Avoid

Bonded by Blood' has a solid cast of familiar faces from the British mobster/football hooligan genres, which are kind of interchangeable a lot of the time! In addition to Neil Maskell and Tamer Hassan, who both appeared in the classic 'Football Factory', there's 'Footsoldier' alumni Dave Legeno and Terry Stone. Stone again plays Tony Tucker,one of the gunned-down trio, as he did in 'Footsoldier', but it's a toned down,less flamboyant version of the character and also minus the now iconic fright-wig he wears in 'Footsoldier' and its sequels. The weakest link cast-wise is Adam Deacon..who??..who's terrible and laughably unconvincing as a wanna-be tough guy who you don't believe for a minute would earn the respect of bad asses like Hassan and Legeno. Worth a watch for fans of both the genre and the rotating stock company of actors that show up in these films, but for the definitive version of the 'range rover murders' check out 'Rise of the Footsoldier'!

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

This fundamentally pointless gangster flick (the story has been done twice before) gives Tamer Hassan the chance to do his typical gurning, foul mouthed cockney gangster thing as Pat Tate, whilst Terry Stone inexplicably plays the same character he did before, with the likes of Neil Maskell and Adam Deacon for support in this latest attempt to bring the true life story of the 1995 Rottenden Range Rover murders to the screen. It lacks the sappy melodrama of the dismal Rise of the Foot Soldier, but the same problem I had with that film seems to be present here: there seems to be a lack of depth, and the very interesting story just feels really hard to get in to. It just would not appear to translate well to film, surely one it would be better to read about. Great soundtrack, though. **

As someone whose taste in cinema does not usually run to much violence, choice language or blood (vampires excepted); I really enjoyed this film! No mere fest of foul language, tough guys, hot chicks, dangerous drugs, big guns, oh, and a Porche for good measure - although it's all there - "Bonded by Blood" has much more going for it. Cleverly directed by Sacha Bennett, this film has excellent touches of visual humour, some very funny lines, and a number of intense performances. There is even a Shakespeare reference - but don't let that put you off! Tamer Hassan as Pat Tate, high on cocaine and drunk on machismo is superbly scary. You have to duck when he starts pumping out the expletives. Altogether a much classier offering than previous efforts in this genre.

I guess the British film industry will never get tired of the Essex Boys affair, or I would say killing, that occurred in 1995, a sort of mini Saint Valentine massacre made in UK. I have never been informed of this killing, except through those movies never released in France. But I am sure that's at least the sixth film speaking of this affair. I am sure they will make films about it fifty years from now. There were not so many movies about the Great Train Robbery which took place in August 1963. I like crime or gangster flicks from over the Channel, although they seem all alike. You have two kinds, the SNATCH kind and the RISE OF THE FOOT SOLDIER one. I have seen dozens of those features, and I prefer the second genre, more brutal and realistic with also less humor. One more thing, about the scene where the young hood is killed with a riot gun in the end; when you get killed with this kind of rifle, your body jumps to the rear, it doesn't stand still...Caliber 12 is not 9mm...