Complicity

"Complicity" is the second Iain Banks novel turned into a film, but while it is made for the big screen, it does not live up to the standards set by BBC's mini series "The Crow Road". While it is an entertaining and gripping thriller set in Edinburgh and the Highlands, it ultimately fails to convey the spirit of the book. The cast are good, though, and the story is excellent.

It looks like a TV film, and while it is not exactly a wasted opportunity to bring Iain Banks to the cinema, it is slightly disappointing, although still worth watching.

Its a shame that people get annoyed at low budget films and dont watch them to the end as there is some mighty fine moments in this film that must be seen to be enjoyed. It was a massive task trying to take Ian Banks novel and putting it on the big screen anyway and this film was possibly only about a tenth of as good as the book. Which still makes it very good although you can never truly realise how sick the killer really is, i mean they talk about what the killer has done and in some instances you actually see it but........its a low budget movie....it doesnt want to depend on gore .....it wants to make you think about what is hapening and more importantly WHY it is happening. Ever read a newspaper report about a daft judge giving stupid sentence and the criminal getting away with it...well this film is about that and what would happen if one man lost the rails and decided to go up against people that deserved the attention that they should have shown to others....or lack thereof. Great!!

We were rather suspicious of this movie when we first sat down to watch it. My husband and I had both read the book and liked it very much, and since we hadn't heard of the adaptation before we suspected that it probably wouldn't be much good.

Boy, were we ever wrong.

The movie is slightly too gory at times for my personal taste, but then, so is the book. And it's hard not to be, in a story about the hunt for a mad but incredibly clever serial killer. The setting is just right, and the casting as well, and the story unfolds at a pace that just allows you to understand what's going on before the next twist to the plot.

Very highly recommended.

Brave yet flawed adaption of Iain Banks' dark novel. The characters appear flat as they wade through some bland dialogue. Jonny Lee Miller goes through the remarkable events as if he were buying socks. The shocks and surprises fail to shock or surprise. A more full on darker thrust would have prevented this from resembling a poor episode of Taggart. Well done for having a go and well done for keeping it in Scotland rather than moving it to another locale.

A film based on the Iain Banks novel with the same name. As a major Iain Banks fan I decided to read the book before I watched the film, I'm sure glad I did. The book is very good (like all Banks's novels), unnerving, exciting and very well written. However, in the film the director have managed to exclude the good things about the book, resulting in a depressing, unthrilling thriller without bite. Only watch this if you're bored, actually don't, read the book instead!