Bonded by Blood

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...

Im not understanding all the bad reviews here. I think to watch this movie for a start you need to have the acquired taste of east-end London cockney slang and gangster culture (drugs, sex and a lot of the word c**t) I was sceptical about this one... i kind of gave up with anything Tamar Hassan is in due to the disappointing movie releases he has had since The Business by Nick Love. I watched the likes of city Rats for example and was shocked he would take part in such a crap movie after the success of the Business. I feel like Tamar Hassan has been trying to get that 'right movie' of the cockney gangster that works well and has failed until this one! I saw this on Netflix so on a rainy day gave it a go with super low expectations expecting to turn off by the quarter way through mark. I was wrong, i was hooked on this one. Had a good few laughs at the raging scenes which are full of colourful language and i thought the storyline was enough to keep me watching. Stunned at all the bad reviews on here.

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'!

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

How many times will low budget tales about these Essex lads need to be told. The film made no effort to show anything other than the tough guy 'gangster' side of Tucker or Tate. They were thoroughly unlikeable, and whilst Hassan gives a decent performance, I still couldn't care less about the fate of his gobby bully. Stone, meanwhile fares less well. Not sure what this guys background is, but he's not a very convincing tough guy. I think he has a slight speech impediment which may have been a character choice, but it didn't seem right for the part. I didn't believe him at all, and he only really seems to have one emotion. Angry swearing. The direction is competent without ever being very imaginative, and the film does seem to have been put together quite well, zipping along at a good old pace. It's not a terrible film, it's just not really very interesting. It's been done better, many times, before. There is a very clear market for these films, and I guess whilst this obsession with cockney geezers remains we can expect more offerings like this one. Shame.