London Boulevard

I went into this film expecting a cool,tense,exciting Brit thriller. The trailer looked decent and the acting talent on show made me want to give it a go. Overall though it failed to deliver on the promising looking opening credits. It lacked any real tension or suspense, the story felt underdeveloped with too many subplots and a lot of it just fails to convince. Many parts of the film are just not believable enough.

The acting is fairly strong and there are a couple of elegant visual touches;(Farrell in the car for example).In my opinion,the soundtrack is the best thing about the film. Serge Pizzorno from Kasabian had a hand in the music on this one and he has done a good job with a 60's/70's spaghetti western/French art-house vibe if you can imagine such a thing!

Finally its worth noting that I asked my girlfriend to contribute her thoughts after seeing the film and she gave me a one word reply..........."sh*te"

Somewhere, deep down, there still is a great movie hidden here. It had all of the right ingredients in it to become a great crime movie, done in a very typical raw British style but the movie as it turned was still mostly a disappointing one.

Reason why the movie isn't as good as it potential could had been is because it's lacking focus and is trying to do and tell far too many things. The movie features simply far too many different plot lines and characters in it, which are all really fine, if only they were being the basis of a different and separate movie on their own.

The movie is being drama about a guy trying to settle in again, after being released from jail but it's also a crime movie, that features a very crime-like and thriller type of plot in it. And if that wasn't enough already; it also tries to be a romantic movie. There is never really a right balance between any of these different aspects, which makes this a very uneven movie, that also doesn't really work out the way it was supposed to because of all of this.

Especially the romantic plot line suffered from this. In the movie there was absolutely no reason for the Colin Farrell and the Keira Knightley to fall in love with each other. Which was odd, since they still seemed to have some good chemistry together. The movie however never makes it seem believable or logical and you even wonder why it's in the movie at all, since it doesn't even seem to be all that important for the movie and its main story, once you really start thinking back about it.

It still is a great movie with some great actors and acting in it. Keira Knightley plays mostly herself and she actually is hardly in the movie at all, so she doesn't impress all that much but Colin Farrell on the other hand is truly great in this. The movie also has a truly great supporting cast, with actors such as David Thewlis, Ray Winstone and Ben Chaplin all involved.

The thing that also helped to save the movie, was the fact that this remains a very well made film. It has a good style to it and also nothing wrong with its storytelling. It just is the story itself that isn't all that great because it tries too hard to impress, with as many different ideas in it as possible. Still a valiant attempt by writer turned director William Monahan and I'm still very interested in seeing more movies done by him. I'm sure that if he continues to do more movies as a director, he will become more successful at it and has the capability to make some really great crime movies. A genre that obviously suits him well, despite the fact that this movie is still mostly being somewhat of a disappointment and just not entirely successful enough at what it's all trying to achieve.

It really had far more potential in it.

6/10

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Ex-con Colin Farrell is released from prison and take a job as a minder to an actress prowled on by the paparazzi. He also tries to resist the pull back into crime by the local gangster, keen to have him on his payroll.

If this plot was all this film had, it would be run of the mill. Instead, Colin Farrell fills his character out beautifully to counterbalance a reliably excellent Ray Winstone as the slightly-polished savage in his gangster. The performances of Knightley, Thewlis and the brilliant and rarely-seen Chaplin add great flavour to the storytelling. The sum total is a compelling film with depth of character.

It's hard to tell oft-told story elements but the way to success seems to be to tell them well rather than invent twists and turns to try and impress the audience. This film gets that balance of approach right and is a fine watch.

Colin Farrell is totally credible as a tough guy but the movie features other stunning performances like Keira Knightley and Ray Winstone, who make the film pleasant and interesting. Monahan borrows something from other famous flicks such as Martin Scorsese's The Departed and Carlito's way. The story plays out perfectly and the pleasures are many, including Farrell's reflective smiles when things go wrong and Knightley's depiction of a beautiful woman (with fame and money but always needy and selfish). Not to mention the London perfect locations and the believable depiction of the mob's underworld. The finale leaves a bit a bad taste but the story is wonderful on the whole

This film was brimming with potential, an adept cast, some stylish directing & gritty yet beautiful set locations. However some of the story & the actions taken by its characters were implausible, & most of its ideas didn't develop effectively on screen.

Recently released gangster Colin Farrell meets a young female friend of reclusive celebrity actor Kiera Knightly & offers him a job protecting her from intrusive paparazzi. He shows up for work & What feels like a scene or two later they have (unconvincingly) fallen in love. parallel to this Farrels character is finding it hard to escape his past & is soon roped into a feud with gangster boss Ray Winstone. He is now faced with the dilemma of either returning to his previous nature or beginning a life of new found love in LA.

All this is played out with some very stylish moments, such as the dialogue between Winstone & Farrel in the restaurant or the artistic but realistic way in which the environment is captured. All the acting is well done & Its accompanied by a great soundtrack, but a huge amount of the script feels rushed & underdeveloped. As a whole it is entertaining if not taken to seriously but may not appeal to any serious film enthusiast.

I also felt that the ending of this film was brave but what I had seen prior to it lacked enough substance or attachment to make it stick & I think I would have been more satisfied with a conventional ending.