The Crew

The Crew goes where many British gangster flicks tends to skirt around. It's an adaptation of Kevin Sampson's novel Outlaws (he wrote the screenplay too), and really shows off an attention to detail that paints a graphic and nihilistic picture of gangster life. It plays on moral bankruptcy rather than trying to spin out pithy one liners and any pretence of cool.

Nothing good happens to anyone; violence and lust doesn't make people happy, poetic justice slips through when you least expect and some neat twists give it a decent narrative that is a lot smarter than the usual brit gangster flic.

Bodes well for Awaydays!

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Liverpool crime boss Ged Brennan (Scot Williams) has built a successful and respected life for himself on the back of a life of crime but bad intelligence on his last scam lead to it all being a waste of time. Even worse, a figure head of crime in his local area has just turned up dead and the hunt is on for who did it. But Ged's planning to get back into the game with his biggest heist yet- but the threat of betrayal all around him is becoming a real problem.

All the ingriedients were here for a perfect crime film- realistic and brutal, The Crew on paper must have seemed perfect. But while it's far from an awful attempt to bring the world of the Liverpool crime scene to life, it still feels like a bit of a mess and like it falls short of what it first set out to do. And even worse, it seems to be one of those films where the trailer has made it look more exciting than it really is.

The main problem is how disjointed and incoherent it all feels, with the main story and the sub plot seeming to morph over each other and taking up too much time, and with the film running at maybe a bit too ambitious just under two hours, this is even more of a problem. While I understand the film intended to be brutal and hard hitting, a tooled up gang in forensic outfits filming their slaughter of a group of drug addicts in a flat, a scene where a male and female junkie are made to perform sleazy sex acts for and on two crooks with bisexual leanings and a leary Scots character who gets his thrills from strippers and fat hookers all feel a tad gratuitous and added merely for shock value. Far from awful, but could have been a lot better if done with a bit more restraint and focus. **

Another British film from the early 21st Century and like so many other Brit flicks it revolves around a bunch of hardened gangsters

" Wow Theo I think you might have to elaborate ? "

Do I have to ? To be fair it's not one of those embarrassing Guy Ritchie inspired comedy gangster movies that tries and fails to bring a smile to the audiences face . Well it does but these scenes are so intermittent and forgettable that they're forgotten about by the half way stage of the next scene

You certainly won't feel like laughing much because this is foul mouthed brutal stuff . Characters are incapable of opening their mouths without a stream of expletives come gushing out . That's not when they're torturing , beating or murdering one another and some scenes merely exist to shoehorn some explicit mindless violence just in case the audience get bored without ten minutes of graphic violence . Perhaps the producers should concentrated on developing the story a bit more

This is one of two problems with THE CREW . As other people have been quick to point out the film is trying to be complex but just ends up confused as rival firms cross , double cross and triple cross one another so much so that you'll be lost as to why the latest victim is getting ripped off or tortured . By having a Serbian gang as one of the protagonists you're also reminded of LAYER CAKE and how much superior that was to the Ritchie wannabes

The second fundamental fault is that the entire look of the film . Again other commentators have brought it up and that is the film never appears cinematic and resembles something shown on Channel 4 at tea time . Did someone mention HOLLYOAKS ? Try and imagine HOLLYOAKS with the F and C words in every sentence along with frequent maimings and murders and you've got a rough idea what THE CREW resembles on a visual level

Typical Brit Gangster Movie Plot: Someone has a job they need done so they can get out of the game, they hire a crew to do it, some hijinx ensue, and it's a rockin good time.

This movie: A crew boss has a big job he needs done so he can get out of the game, since he has a crew they can do it, things go wrong, people get killed, no one really has fun.

This movie was well made. The acting was spot on. The plot was fairly creative. I just didn't care.

I know intellectually this was a good movie. All the pieces were there for me to actually enjoy myself, I just couldn't like any of the characters. They're all really bad individuals, and really don't have any redeeming qualities about them. I also know this movie is probably more what it's like to be a gangster than Rocknrolla, or any of Guy Ritchie's fair, it's just that in Guy's movies you have a couple characters that are fun to watch. They may be bad guys, but they're naturally funny. They make you care about what happens to them. There just wasn't anyone in this film that did that.

I also liken this to "The Bank Job" in the sense that there wasn't really any genuinely good characters, yet Jason Statham carries the entire film because of his charisma. You can't really pin your hat on anyone in the crew, and it's unfortunate because this could have been a good film.

If you're into brutal violence, and people lying, stealing, and cheating just for fun, then you'll probably enjoy this. I just wanted a little more to keep my attention.

Movies from across the Pond are occasionally Excellent and they do tend to be Proud of their Gangster and Comedy Films that can sometimes influence Hollywood. Here is another in a current trend of Organized Crime Thrillers, British Style. These generally fall into two Categories. Wink and Smirk, Guy Ritchie Types, or Dirty and Gritty. This one is the Latter.

It is definitely Dirty. Not only in its Look and Tone but Sexually Speaking. Trouble is that while attempting to be Realistic and Unfettered, the Unfiltered Lens shows some Ugly, Disturbing, Disgusting, and Perverted Scenes that seem Staged for nothing more than to Elevate the Bar of Bad Taste.

One such Scene is so Brutal that its not only Annoying but asks the question Why?, than the Realization come along, that it is just a not so Subtle way to separate this abhorrent Behavior, from the other Lesser abhorrent Behavior, so the Audience can side with the more Civilized Criminal. The one who is Married, wears tailored Suits, has a Son, and doesn't do Drugs.

The Plot is Unforgivably Confusing and there are Scenes and Subplots so Undeveloped that the whole thing just Collapses and takes on a Complexity that is more Frustrating than Intriguing.