Bait

I saw this film at it's premiere at the Leeds International Film Festival 2014 and was delighted to find a gripping story with very interesting characters. Both female leads were fantastic in their roles and I was gripped from start to finish. It is a definite step up for Director Dominic Brunt after his directorial debut with Before Dawn (2012) and both the character building and story have improved dramatically. The story is thrilling and the actions of the film's Loan Shark villain are brutal and visceral, often shockingly so. This only adds to the gritty, real world quality the film presents to us. I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a good thriller! 10/10

Two young women simply hate that they have this shop in this dingy mall, when they know they could do much better with their own shop. They hate being stuck there. Bex is more the looker, and Dawn is more the mousy woman. It is Bex who attracts the creeps, which makes working there even worse. They have saved money, and try to get a loan. They can't close the loan at the bank. And along comes Jeremy. Suave and convincing. But really a psychopath who works for a criminal gang that loans money at massive interest rates, and then uses the most brutal methods to collect, and no one had better be a day late. And he has an enforcer to help him. The women need 20K Pounds for the shop, and each of them have managed to save 5K. Jeremy goes on a date with Dawn, and while getting her drunk, she sort of told him to get the 10K which he said he could get her. Looking at the new location and asking how quickly they could be in business, he drops that it would be 1K per month for 40 months for the loan of 10K. Telling him they can't afford that, they say no deal. Except he says Dawn told him to get the money, and there are procurement costs in doing so, so even though no money is loaned, she owes him 3K. And it is made very clear there will be a lot of harm to her family if that is not paid. She panics after seeing a family member severely beaten and agrees to give 5K to be placed where he says to do so. He then visits her, saying he didn't get the money, and she now owes 6K. To make the point, Bex is severely beaten. This is very visceral, and shows the tactics of loan sharks. They are not fooling around. And clearly Jeremy likes his work. This puts the women in an impossible situation, with the demands escalating and the brutality promised on their family making it worse. And neither of these two woman are of the nature to become brutal themselves, but if they can't, they have no way out. But how can they? It is a very gut wrenching film. One could poke holes in the action which one can do for almost any film. But it will keep one watching to the end.

I thought this was a solid 7 for about 3/4 of the movie even though it was a bit preposterous at times, but the ending (well, not the very end) sort of ruined the entire film for me. It was beyond preposterous and rife with stupidity. I'm not going to give it away, but let's just say the weapon the women used to try to take out their adversary was a rather poor choice, and their plan didn't seem particularly well thought out. Nonetheless, that scene did contain some entertaining gore. The acting was fine and there was enough suspense to keep me wondering how this would ultimately play out. Because of the ending, I can't necessarily recommend the film, but it wouldn't be the worst one you've ever seen either.

Though better not, because you'll be baiting for a long time. Which can be considered a pun especially considering our main bad guy in this. The movie has a feel of TV movie of the week to it. The main bad guy being so cliché that he almost ruins a completely solid build up. The introduced female characters where really nice and felt "real". Overcoming diversities, standing their own ground and such things.

But again the moment the bad guy comes into the play ... and it's not like the viewer will not be aware of him. It's very predictable, to a point where you are wondering if the women shouldn't have seen it earlier. This is not a generalization, actually the characters seem strong enough to be aware or to have realized what was going to happen. If anyone is doing a generalization it's the movie. And it's a shame, because these things happen and the victims have a hard time battling them ... So while the theme/idea works and it starts off good, it does slide into bad country very quickly

The first 5 minutes starts off okay, a little slow but good production value, decent dialog. It all goes down hill from there. 35 minutes into it and nothing's happening.

Eventually, the violence starts, but it's so unrealistic and over the top, it's not believable, even within the context of the story.

The violence is really fake too, with everyone getting beat to bloody hell, then walking around sporting a couple band-aids, like they are super-human. Sometimes, even the physics stand out as obviously wrong.

This movie is frankly stupid. As it drags on, even the dialog and filming goes downhill, as if the crew realized just what a bad a movie they were making and gave up on it.

Normally, I try to finish bad movies so I can leave a complete review, but with this one after an hour I had to fast-forward through most of it.

The only reason I gave it two stars in the actors seemed to be trying with what little they were given.