Jackdaw

Quite harshly judged by some of the other reviews. If all films below 6* on imdb were like this I'd be happy. Not a world beater for sure, but I really enjoyed the retro feel of it, and the soundtrack that went with it. Ended up uncertain about whether it was a recent film or slightly older.

I think the film reflects the sometimes mundane nature of the drugs trade and people involved in it, but it still kept me entertained and engaged. The atmosphere was sustained through the film for me.

Loved the setting on the film in the North East. Would happily seek out and watch anything else by this director.

Not wishing to start rumours, but if Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Jenna Coleman were ever to have child, it would be a thing of beauty! It may not, however, be terribly discerning as this film is nobody's finest hour. OJC is the eponymous character. A former moto-cross champion with a bit of baggage, he is reduced to intercepting packages strapped to wind turbines in the North Sea for his slightly bonkers dealer pal "Silas" (Joe Blakemore). Something's gone wrong with his latest mission though. There's no payday awaiting him at the rendezvous point, then he gets shot at by a man on a horse! Luckily his ageing bike has more HP that the real thing so he escapes only to run out of petrol, then thump a cop who tries to apprehend him, then end up calling in some favours to try and find who has kidnapped his brother "Simon" in apparent retaliation for him not delivering the goods. Still with me? "Jack Dawson" (yep, there are a few "Titanic" jokes) has now to try and fathom who has his sibling and en route we encounter some unsavoury types from England's North East before a frankly rather underwhelming denouement. Coleman features unremarkably once or twice, as does the quite engaging Thomas Turgoose as the outwardly weedy but surprisingly resilient "Craig" but the writing is all a bit bland, the story a bit thin and undercooked and the set-piece scenarios are just too staged - especially the police raid of the rave - to be effective. It's watchable and to be fair it doesn't hang around, but it could just as easily be an episode of "The Professionals" and I doubt I'll recall it for long.

Jackdaw was a surprisingly an alright action crime film. Olvier jackson coen plays jack dawson, a ex army and motobike champion who tries to provide for his brother. He takes a job but it seems very shaddy and you already know that the guy is a double crosser, falsing jack into a fight, after relising it was a distracion to kidnap the brother. We also get jenna colman playing bo, jacks ex who actually has some pretty good fight in her aswell. The actually fighting and action elements worked well in this film, acting was decent enough and believable and I just think overall jackdaw was a good crime film.

Director can shoot nice looking stuff, the opening ten mins are suspenseful and well shot/edited.

After that opening, the whole thing collapsed into a badly realised student film type script with no credible characters, terrible attempts at comedy and zero credibility.

Which is a shame as it had a promising set up, and was attempting to do a Walter Hill type action film.

Characters are paper thin badly realised cliches and the dialogue is dire. There isn't a realistic interaction between anyone after the opening ten or so minutes.

Telling, the opening was mostly silent.

Hire a proper scriptwriter next time (if there is a next time).

Missed opportunity.

Simple gritty scenes of bike chases, raves and fights. A decent movie about family revenge. No-ones going to win an oscar for this but it will keep you engaged for 90-minutes and if you like old skool rave then the soundtrack and rave scenes are great fun.

Don't believe all the negative reviews, you'll know if you like it in the first ten minutes. If you like any sort of revenge / chase movies then this is for you. If you also like bikes / rave toons then you'll love it. It's rare I check out the sound track of a movie afterwards but I'll be checking this one out - some classics that had me waving my glowsticks!.