Vendetta

I managed to catch Vendetta at the premier showing at the Genesis cinema in East London. The atmosphere was great and everyone was in good spirits, it was a Friday night and the cinema was packed with Danny Dyer fans. But even with the generous atmosphere it really failed to deliver. I wasn't expecting a Brando performance and I enjoyed watching Dyer in the likes of The Business and The Football Factory, but playing Jimmy Vickers felt like it was a lot out of his depth. Maybe if Danny would have taken this role in his latter years, it would have suited him much more. Saying that, if you enjoy a revenge plot and you love Brit flicks, well then this is possibly for you. Some splendid shots of Canary Wharf and East London make up for a very lack-lustre performance all round. The likes of the brilliant, late Mr Winner needn't worry one iota. Death Wish, it ain't.

I went into this movie, not expecting anything too crappy, but nothing too brilliant either. I was pretty much bang on the money.

So a guy seeks revenge on the guys who killed his parents. He bumps off the offenders one by one, yet the police have a hard time trying to figure out who is doing all the killing. The writer tries to make the protagonist into a hero but, in my opinion, fails.

Vendetta is just another standard revenge movie, with predictable scripting and a character that you try and empathise with. However, I felt that I could not relate to the character (there was just no dimension in any of the acting) and just enjoyed the action.

If you want to watch a run-of-the-mill action movie, then Vendetta is worth a look. Just be prepared to look beyond some scripting holes.

If your a fan of a good raw Brit flick then this one does not disappoint… the first 15 minutes of the film will leave you switched on or switched off. (Violent, cuts no corners and shows you what your in for, certainly sets the mood for the whole movie) hard hitting, raw to the core violent gritty Brit flick that packs a punch. I have been waiting for a new good Brit flick to come along for a while now… If your a fan of British flicks then you'll recognise a few actors along side Dyer and I'm sure you'll enjoy this movie. Solid 9 for me.

Always feel that Brit flicks get tough reviews these days but i see this one picking up the pace a bit more with regards to ratings.

Obviously the story seems and is pretty thin. The revenge theme has been done before and it's more than understandable if many won't like this (some even for reasons such as Danny Dyer). But if you can try to enjoy this there are a few thing here that are nicely done. One of them being the fact, this is not binding itself to any conventional list. Something that can obviously also be seen as a negative straying away from the formula, but can also be seen as a bit of fun (see first revenge "victim"), if you let it.

Also keep in mind there is another one coming out. So the end is not as closing and some things in the movie make more sense. But those things seem a bit out of touch with the rest of the movie. As single movie it's tough to decide what the thinking behind some things was. Still I liked the fact that it's trying to be different

VENDETTA is a British vigilante movie in which an ordinary guy is pushed to the edge by the brutal murder of his parents. The film stars an older, wiser Danny Dyer as the chief character, a man who spares no expense in the way he tracks down and dispatches those responsible for the terrible crime.

At the outset, I was pleasantly surprised by VENDETTA. It bears some strong cinematography and good production values for a low budget British genre movie; director Stephen Reynolds is particularly to be commended for making this look like it stands up against the best Hollywood has to offer. And the first half hour tells an intense, dramatic story via decent editing and well thought-out scenes.

It's a pity, then, that the film can't sustain this calibre of writing, because it starts to go downhill soon afterwards. The issue is the plot, which doesn't really go anywhere as the narrative progresses. It becomes repetitive and vague, with too much time given to inconsequential characters and their actions, like Dyer's military superior and the efforts of some shady government types to track him down. All of this stuff is unnecessary and detracts from the story.

Still, the producers deserve credit for eliciting a decent performance from Dyer, and some of the supporting roles are nicely filled. Roxanne McKee continues with the potential she showed in A GAME OF THRONES, and it's always fun to see Bruce Payne even though he only appears in a cameo here. Watch out for KNIGHTMARE star Hugo Myatt in a bit part, and Vincent Regan as a military type. The violence is strong and the story gutsy, lifting this head and shoulders above the comparable likes of Nick Love's OUTLAW.