Jack Said

The crime films from UK from the nineties till now have always, at ninety percent, deceived me, because of bad directing, bad acting, bad scripts. Forget LONG GOOD FRIDAY, GET CARTER, ROBBERY. Guy Ritchie was one of those who are responsible of this situation; Ritchie himself more or less under Quentin Tarantino's influence. But from time to time, you have tough, rough "faces", such as the likes of Craig Fairbrass, Ray Winstone, characters who enhance the interest of those genuinely lame movies. Here, for this movie, I will be honest, I was bored from the very beginning. However, a dark, gloomy, bleak ending can please me, and let me forget the below average quality of those crime dramas.

While scoring the film a 2 I will say that it does however not stink as much as that score would suggest, its just that having sat through this banal attempt at noir (which is best left to the Americans)I cannot rate it any higher while I still have the pathetically unrealistic female lead characters cartoonish unconvincing nut job still in my head.

The lead character is also a little...no....a lot on the unbelievable side as are all the characters...in fact...maybe this should have been made as a cartoon.

It is cheap, nasty, embarrassingly bad in places, maybe the only redeeming feature is the score.

I am sure that the film will have some appeal with 14 year olds who stumble over it but really the poor acting and ridiculous dialogue coupled with the slap inducing 'acting' of the lead female character means this should be out on DVD very soon......

Maybe I should rate it 1.

Yet another cheapo British gangster flick...yawn. This one stars Danny Dyer (surprise!)as a bit of a cockney rebellious rogue..or should that be webellious wogue.

It all seems to take place in a warehouse..even the scenes in someone's flat.The characters have names like "the fixer", "the guvnor" and even the rival gang are called "the other side gang". Its like watching children playing at gangster stories..and about as believable.

Simon Phillips is an unconvincing action hero to say the least and the baddies all have bald heads cockney accents and long black overcoats.

Ashlie Walker overacts but that might because the rest of the cast are so wooden.

Interesting that those reviewing this negatively seem completely unaware of the original and that any confusion only arises from not knowing this and not having seen the original.

As for unbelievable characters...well that's a first isn't it. No movie has ever had characters that one doesn't come across in real life. (/sarcasm)

I'm not sure it was worth a prequel, although a couple of things from the original were explained so it had its uses, not least seeing the relationship with Erin and having a better understanding of her reaction when 'Peanut' re-entered her life in the first one.

Altogether, not a bad follow up to the original.

I'm keen to see what the third one offers.

I loved this film and would have to say it's one of my favorite movies of this genre. Absolutely riveting film about Jack, an undercover cop who has to find his way into a family the police have been trying to get close to for some time. Jack has to make some life changing decisions about how to deal with a predicament he finds himself in as a result of getting too close to the crims he's supposed to bring down. Lots of plot twists. Well written, well acted and a credit to the genre.

Time is spent giving the characters depth so you either become attached to, or despise them. It's got all you could ask for. The moral dilemma, the love interest, the loyalty to job or friend, betrayal, revenge - and it works.

It's the sort of movie that leaves you stunned at the end with lots of questions about the morality of the police. Well worth watching.