The Business

This is an OK gangster romp, very English, and not sure if it will translate well across the Atlantic.

Set in Margaret Thatcher's 80s, the storyline is pretty much the same as every other Gangster movie. Someone with nothing, works their way up the food chain, only to come crashing down again. Frankie starts out as a waster in South London, and becomes a big player in Spain's Costa Del Sol.

The location, costume, soundtrack and cars are fantastic, really transporting you back to the 1980s, but there are a few duff performances thrown in from some of the actors.

The are a few good lines and quotes in there, but nothing different from Nick Love's previous film, The Football Factory. Basically it is Football Factory in the sun.

It was enjoyable, but pales in comparison to something like GoodFellas.

Frankie is just a typical South London chav (or whatever they were called back then) until he runs an errand to the south of Spain for a local gangster. He delivers a bag to Charlie in the Costa del Crime and gets taken on as his driven. As time goes by Frankie becomes more than just "the kid Frankie" and this continues even when Charlie's violently irrational partner Sam gets back on the scene. However as the cocaine high of the 80's comes, the risks of his criminal live come all the realer to Frankie.

Clearly aiming to be some sort of "Costa del Goodfellas" story, Nick Love's film is a very by-the-numbers sort of affair that relies too much on the superficial things while forgetting things like characters and narrative. The storyline is very basic and it is all pretty obvious what the arch of the story will be, if not the exact detail. Love has put more effort into capturing the feel of the 1980's which, in fairness he does pretty well thanks to his set and costume people as well as a constant pop music soundtrack. This is all well and good and the story itself moves forward with this style as its driver but it doesn't really have much going on below the surface in terms of character.

Of course it doesn't really help that some of the performances are weak. Dyer does his usual cockney geezer thing and does change across the film (albeit in a basic way) but his narration is terrible. It feels like he is just reading the words and certainly isn't delivering them with any sense of who is character is or with any sense of emotion or understanding of the story he is telling. Hassan is a solid presence and actually does well with his character in the later stages of the film. Bell is obvious but OK while Chapman isn't half as sexy as she clearly has been told she is.

Overall then a fairly so-so British film that looks "the business" in regards the period and 80's gimmicks but really doesn't have much else going for. Maybe worth a look though if your expectations are reasonably low.

I can't get enough of gangsters . I saw GOODFELLAS for the 20th billionth time last week and I bought THE DEPARTED on DVD yesterday so earlier tonight I sat down to watch Nick Love's much hyped - At least much hyped by Film Four - gangster movie THE BUSINESS

Did I say I couldn't get enough of gangsters ? Perhaps what I meant to say was I can't get enough of Scorsese because I got the impression that Nick Love was trying to emulate Scorsese's style and that is fatal for any director . Like GOODFELLAS and several other Scorsese classics the musical soundtrack is very important but for some reason Love seems to have thrown as many pop songs as possible into the mix . It's mentioned that towards the end of the story that it's 1987 with much of the narrative taking place before this , but the 80s tracks seem to be placed without any thought being put into their appropriate place within the chronology

The story itself is similar to a Scorsese film in that it's male orientated and misogynistic . Only difference is that the female characters are central to the plot in the Scorsese universe while in THE BUSINESS they seem to exist to just so to set an amusing scene towards the end where Frankie has to earn some money and one can't help thinking perhaps Love should have concentrated on a style of his own and put more thought into his own screenplay or perhaps even have directed a story written by somebody else therefore this audience member wouldn't have structuralist theories while watching a Nick Love movie

As for the cast I do remember writing in my review of BORSTAL BOY that Danny Dyer is an actor who could become a big name and I still stick by that but it's obvious he's rather unconvincing as a big hard gangster . I also couldn't help noticing that Camille Coduri and Linda Henry seem to be playing the same characters ( Though far more foul mouthed ) that they play in DOCTOR WHO and EASTENDERS respectively but as I said their characters are woefully underdeveloped so perhaps I shouldn't blame the actresses

THE BUSINESS is loud , violent and foul mouthed but most of all disappointing . Like OUTLAW the screenplay needed more work on it and perhaps the next film Love makes has a stronger producer who wants to find out like this audience member if he has an idiosyncratic style of his own

Classic British gangster film set in Spain. Great dialogue and funny scenes. The third act is a little dark but overall it's an enjoyable film with a great 80's soundtrack.

I completely disagree with the vast majority of reviewers so far, this was a great film. Granted, it may be similar to other films of its genre, but the 80s settings were meticulous in my view. Spanish Guardia Civil with their feared (now banned) tri-corn hats, 80s cars, definitely NOT the modern Malaga airport, and the fashions and language used.

I left Cineworld feeling exhilarated - great soundtrack and good plot. I would recommend this film to anybody, Nick Love has done it again after the superb Football Factory. How can anybody call Danny Dyer Z-List?? Granted, he may be no Michael Douglas, but just because he is young, and obviously has a talent for the types of part he tends to play in movies, does not make him a bad actor at all, in fact, i think the exact opposite.

I will definitely be pre-ordering the DVD.