Baseline

A friend invited me to watch this. Not a fan of "just about gangsters" films, I was impressed by the depth of the plot. Freddie Connor, Dexter Fletcher, Jamie Forman, Zoe Tapper brought it to life with masterful acting. There's a real story here of hard times and loyalty. The directing and production and score were first rate. This film has garnered a lot of attention but it deserves even more! A really first rate film.

Although this film in my opinion doesn't match up to Guy Ritchies gangster films such as Snatch or Lock, stock and two smoking barrels it is still a well done British gangster film by an almost unknown director.

Compared to the most recently produced British gangster film i last watched (Dead man running) Baseline was a well casted film with a decent storyline, apart from an abrupt ending which left me disappointed as the film seemed to build up towards what i hoped was a action packed ending. Other than this the storyline was fairly well written.

Although from early on the film was fairly predictable as the audience is shown a large amount of money in a safe whilst our main protagonist, Danny, is keeping track of the amount of money he has in a notebook. I'm certain that i am not in the minority when i predicted that something will happen resulting in him loosing the money. Apart from the predictability in parts Baseline achieved what i expect from a British gangster film, it had plenty of violence and a scary, knuckle-duster brandishing crime lord who wants his money.

Wasted my time with this film tonight, all of the acting was superb with the exception of the main character. Yes, obviously that ruins the whole movie because not only does he never really feel believable, the writer doesn't ever throw you a bone to make up for it -_- The Director and film crew along with a pretty good cast give you enough hope to keep watching, wishing and hoping the main character will get it together.... The A/v crew did a great job because it looks like with a low budget they managed to pull of a pretty great production visually. I hope this movie gets redone at some point with a bit of comedy and a better lead role though.

Cinematic thug titans, and all-round Gangster movie mavens, the diabolically dashing duo of Dexter Fletcher and effortlessly skeezey Jamie Foreman make for a right pair of dodgy geezers in the competently made, delightfully gritty, well 'ard East End Gangster thriller 'Baseline'. Darkly set within the increasingly volatile environs of a busy, drug-saturated club, where on one especially fateful night it all goes Pete Tong for tall, handsome, straight-edged bouncer Danny (Freddie Connor) who bravely prevents an assassination attempt on his supremely villainous boss Terry (Jamie Foreman) which unforeseeably draws him inexorably into Terry's cruelly brutal regime of nefarious drug dealings, and gruesome gangland killings he is ill suited for, but when he is forced to betray his wayward, trouble-seeking friend Paul (Gordon Alexander) Danny very soon finds himself up to his aquiline jaw in the most terrible misfortune! 'Baseline' ostensibly mines the same B-Movie bad-boy, hyped-up hooligan shtick as Tamer Hassan, and 'Double Diamond' Danny Dyer, with its druggy dance-floor dust-ups, bungled rude boy drug deals, seriously sketchy shenanigans, bloody-knuckled retribution, well narky, hot-blooded Bruv Vs. Bruv action, crepuscular warehouse wickedness, and a bangin' finale, this has got some righteously good stuff goin' on, mayte! And while 'Baseline' isn't quite up there with 'Rise of the Footsoldier' (2007), or the criminally underrated 'St. Georges Day' (2012), it's most certainly worth a go if ya' think ya' hard enough, mayte!!!!

I really enjoyed this. It's the sort of film that puts you right into the lives of the characters very quickly, and keeps you down there in amongst the filth and the brutality the whole way through.

Some of the dialogue was a little clunky, but the production value was spot on and the story itself moved at a great pace. It also had some top notch British acting talent in the cast which doesn't hurt for this sort of thing. Dexter Fletcher and Jamie Foreman were along for the ride and were brilliant as always doing their (tried and tested) gangster thing.

In terms of originality, the film isn't going to blow any minds, but as for a good old fashioned yarn about a man struggling with a life spiraling out of control it ticks all the boxes. Well worth a look...