Brotherhood

Didn't feel like this film was needed, still enjoyable but could take it or leave.

Kidulthood was a dark, exciting, and insightful look into the London youth culture. Adulthood expertly built on that and showed the struggles of those trying to escape the endless cycle of violence that grips the streets. Both combined danger, humour and awesome urban soundtracks to depict perfectly the modern gang scene- but most importantly- did so in a BELIEVABLE manner. Brotherhood did not reach those standards in any way. The cast failed to live up to the performances of the original movies. The plot seemed very far fetched, and often needs saving by the quite random jokes involving "Henry" (from Adulthood). Instead of the sinister threats posed by Sam Peel in the original, or Jay in the sequel, the audience are treated to an absolutely absurd duo of Daley & Hugz, who just weren't menacing enough in comparison. The involvement of Stormzy (along with his relatively polite well spoken posse) don't really accomplish anything in the movie and appear to be there just to balance out the pointless appearance of Curtis, still reeling from his Nephew's murder 20 odd years on. All in all, Anuvahood was probably more believable than this, I would give it a miss and watch reruns of Channel 4's excellent Top Boy instead.

Unfortunately the grit of the original two movies is well lost in this episode. The main two gangsters/bad men are completely unbelievable characters. One is like a runty cousin of Danny dyer (some Essex warrior who couldn't scare a granny), and the other 'hugs' comes across as a mincing Turkish footballer, who's acting is very wooden. The acting in general (apart from Noel's) is farcical, along with the Americanised story line , which takes things too far from potential reality. Even Curtis, who was pretty demonic in the second film comes across as a theatrical comedy villain. If you are going to attempt to cast in high level gangsters who run large grossing international business's, then please, make the characters believable. Some orange Essex boy in top shop garms just doesn't cut it. The great thing about the first two films was that they were believable to a certain extent, with the plots mirroring how life can be for large swathes of society in urban environments. For some reason Clarke took this one way beyond those parameters, and failed miserably. If parenthood is to happen as the 4th and final part, then please take it back to the original flavour. There is so much good new music and Yoot's (genuine rude boys who hang with well known grime artists) to ensure Clarke could create a realistic and believable film. Unfortunately, this film waters down the first two and comes across as a way to milk the good will built up.

Caught this today with my girlfriend and some friends. As fans of 'Kidulthood', 'Adulthood' and 'Anuvahood' (if counting), and seeing as it was a bank holiday Monday, we thought we'd go see it. A good, pretty much chavless crowd was there too. I was 14 when the first film came out and I remember the phenomenon it caused. I was 16 when the second arrived, and the reaction was even bigger, because of the first film. Now I'm 24 and the end is here. I feel I have grown up with these and they are special films. This is an entertaining, well-made end, if not a great one. Noel Clarke returns, amongst some other familiar faces. The supporting actors all do a good job but this is certainly Clarke's film. There's some pumping music, stylish edits and camera-work and the odd semi/fully naked woman to keep the lads happy. There's also some dark and repulsive scenes, that make this all the more gritty, as well as some good humour and deep messages too. It does feel like it needs Adam Deacon though, I must admit. I think fans of the first two films won't like it as much but it's a fitting finale. Overall, a decent end to a powerful trilogy that the target audience is sure to embrace.

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

Sam Peel (Noel Clarke) has settled down with girlfriend Kayla (Shanika Warren-Markland) and two children, and has put his unsavoury past behind him. But he is thrust back into it when his younger brother Royston (Daniel Anthony) is gunned down while performing at a live show. Flash new crook Daley (Jason Maza) wants him to work for him, and has joined forces with Sam's old enemy Uncle Curtis (Cornell John) who has his own agenda. Sam tries to stay on the straight and narrow, until an horrific act plunges him back into the underworld he'd tried so hard to escape.

Noel Clarke obviously felt, eight years after the last instalment Adulthood, that the series needed to be rounded off a little more than it already was, and so we have this, we are assured, the final part. Some backstage politics, shall we say, have clearly played their hands here, and so we see the Moony character missing altogether, and Sam mysteriously settled down with his girlfriend from the last film?!?, and of course Adam Deacon's Jay completely absent following the well documented real life spat that spewed up between him and Clarke. Personally, I didn't miss his hyper street kid antics this time round.

While it still packs a powerful emotional punch or two, somehow the raw, gritty, uncompromising nature that characterised the first two films just isn't as evident here. Those films (the first one especially) were from the mind of a young man who had grown up in this unfortunate world, and who gained acclaim by recklessly writing down and screening all the types of stuff he'd seen, and as a result made a film that was 'as potent as a shot of vodka in the morning' as one tabloid review memorably put it. With such a large space of time between this and the last film, the cast (those still in it) and the material with them feel like they've grown up a bit, and this time it all seems to be played more for laughs, even during intense, dramatic scenes, especially from Arnold Oceang's Henry.

That aside, the story all feels cobbled together without the strongest narrative flow and there's an air of predictability about a lot of it that doesn't go unnoticed. It's still worth seeing, though, a grown up, more seasoned ending that those from this generation will feel they've shared the journey with. ***