Bonded by Blood

Bonded by Blood' has a solid cast of familiar faces from the British mobster/football hooligan genres, which are kind of interchangeable a lot of the time! In addition to Neil Maskell and Tamer Hassan, who both appeared in the classic 'Football Factory', there's 'Footsoldier' alumni Dave Legeno and Terry Stone. Stone again plays Tony Tucker,one of the gunned-down trio, as he did in 'Footsoldier', but it's a toned down,less flamboyant version of the character and also minus the now iconic fright-wig he wears in 'Footsoldier' and its sequels. The weakest link cast-wise is Adam Deacon..who??..who's terrible and laughably unconvincing as a wanna-be tough guy who you don't believe for a minute would earn the respect of bad asses like Hassan and Legeno. Worth a watch for fans of both the genre and the rotating stock company of actors that show up in these films, but for the definitive version of the 'range rover murders' check out 'Rise of the Footsoldier'!

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

This fundamentally pointless gangster flick (the story has been done twice before) gives Tamer Hassan the chance to do his typical gurning, foul mouthed cockney gangster thing as Pat Tate, whilst Terry Stone inexplicably plays the same character he did before, with the likes of Neil Maskell and Adam Deacon for support in this latest attempt to bring the true life story of the 1995 Rottenden Range Rover murders to the screen. It lacks the sappy melodrama of the dismal Rise of the Foot Soldier, but the same problem I had with that film seems to be present here: there seems to be a lack of depth, and the very interesting story just feels really hard to get in to. It just would not appear to translate well to film, surely one it would be better to read about. Great soundtrack, though. **

How many times will low budget tales about these Essex lads need to be told. The film made no effort to show anything other than the tough guy 'gangster' side of Tucker or Tate. They were thoroughly unlikeable, and whilst Hassan gives a decent performance, I still couldn't care less about the fate of his gobby bully. Stone, meanwhile fares less well. Not sure what this guys background is, but he's not a very convincing tough guy. I think he has a slight speech impediment which may have been a character choice, but it didn't seem right for the part. I didn't believe him at all, and he only really seems to have one emotion. Angry swearing. The direction is competent without ever being very imaginative, and the film does seem to have been put together quite well, zipping along at a good old pace. It's not a terrible film, it's just not really very interesting. It's been done better, many times, before. There is a very clear market for these films, and I guess whilst this obsession with cockney geezers remains we can expect more offerings like this one. Shame.

Im not understanding all the bad reviews here. I think to watch this movie for a start you need to have the acquired taste of east-end London cockney slang and gangster culture (drugs, sex and a lot of the word c**t) I was sceptical about this one... i kind of gave up with anything Tamar Hassan is in due to the disappointing movie releases he has had since The Business by Nick Love. I watched the likes of city Rats for example and was shocked he would take part in such a crap movie after the success of the Business. I feel like Tamar Hassan has been trying to get that 'right movie' of the cockney gangster that works well and has failed until this one! I saw this on Netflix so on a rainy day gave it a go with super low expectations expecting to turn off by the quarter way through mark. I was wrong, i was hooked on this one. Had a good few laughs at the raging scenes which are full of colourful language and i thought the storyline was enough to keep me watching. Stunned at all the bad reviews on here.

"Bonded by Blood" is yet another movie telling the story that "Essex Boys" immortalised. Many people wondered why we needed another one (it was the third released adaptation of the story, and there are now nine).

So what sets it apart from the pack?

Not a lot, it has to be said. It's really just more of the same for a British gangster flick; this one seems to neglect the real life details to just give you all the c-words, shouting, middle aged British 'hard men' and guys contorting their faces into masks of anger. There's also the usual violence - though nothing on a par with "Rise of a Footsoldier" - and bare breasts.

What's strange about the movie is that it seems to introduce its protagonist early, and then ditches him for other guys. I'm not even sure who the protagonist of the movie is, or if it really has one. It sets you up in the first scenes to see the world through the eyes of a young guy... but then it keeps cutting to other older criminals until it leaves the young guy out, making you wonder what he's there for. It seems likely that he had more scenes, but they were removed in post production, leaving a strangely rudderless movie. The older gangster types are pretty much interchangeable.

The movie is still entertaining enough, and for fans of British gangster flicks, it will give you what you want.