Deadly Game

A.K.A. The Deadly Game. Now and then you find a film with a great cast and wonder why you've never heard of it before. Here we have Gabriel Byrne, Julian Sands, Toby Stephens and Rufus Sewell in a London gangster thriller.

Oh no, not another one!

But wait, this is a well produced, well shot film with a pretty good (if somewhat generic) score. And this is only 81 minutes long, so even if it's bad it'll be mercifully short, right?

Wrong.

I'd been watching 21 minutes when I checked the time, because I thought I must be half way through by now. Groan. So what's wrong with it? Well, the script. The story is completely unintelligible. Which means you feel like you've missed something all the way through, namely, the story. See, the main problem is that we don't know any of the characters in the film, so we don't care about them. Any of them. And there's no clearly definable hero or villain, so you don't know who to root for. And I like grey characters who aren't really good or bad, but you need a general focus or main character in a film, and this film just doesn't have one.

So you keep watching these characters you don't care about in a story you can't really figure out, especially as they keep referring to things you don't see but that appear to be germane to the plot, and pretty soon you are just willing it to all end. Drop a plane on them! Nuke the whole city! Just let it end!

And then it does, and you are left completely nonplussed, empty, devoid of any reaction other than relief that it's over. That's not the way thrillers are supposed to make you feel. You're supposed to be thrilled! You're supposed to have gone through some kind of cathartic emotional journey, with added visceral excitement. You're not supposed to be relieved the mental cruelty of a badly laid out jigsaw puzzle is finally in your cultural out-box. Phew!

I need to watch a great thriller. I might have to go back to my DVD collection.

I also disagree with Nick Stones review.

Slow to start - definitely not. I was glued to the screen from the moment the film began.

This was a slick British crime drama that I've come to expect from the Brits. No one writes mystery and crime drama like they do.

And you could not have asked for better actors to play their respective roles; from Rufus Sewell, Gabriel Byrne, to Toby Stephens they all provided excellent performances.

The one thing I love about British crime drama is that many writers fail purposely or not to explain everything, they leave the audience to figure out various parts of the plot line, which I personally like and approve. And this movie had a lot of plot twists and unexpected results that will have your jaw dropping.

I recommend this movie to anyone who appreciates British crime drama.

When a movie I see on TV starts with the logo for popcornflix.com, I know that I likely can't count on too much appearing on IMDb, so I watch these movies more carefully to provide IMDb with as much information as I can. In this case it didn't help. I had no idea what was going on. A car blew up and a man in bed with a beautiful woman got a phone call. There were cops in London, some of whom were apparently corrupt, and a rich man who wanted to get his drug dealing son out of trouble. I think one of the cops may have gone undercover, but I'm not sure. I couldn't remember which person was which. There was a car chase which was pretty good. There was a chase on foot that was also somewhat exciting. London was interesting to look at, if that was where the movie was set. There was a fascinating futuristic glass-walled room high in the air that overlooked a river. The Thames?

I saw what looked like that scene from "Mission: Impossible", but if you enjoyed that scene, there's really nothing here. That sequence ends with rappelling down a building, but it's not a big deal. I remember one really good acting performance from Terence Maynard, who ended up being tougher than he looked at first.

Do I have any more to say? Not really.

Very difficult to follow plot. This film is a poor mans British version of LA Confidential. Complete with the overly predictable cryptic reference to convey guilt. Too bad because these are talented actors. The chase scenes in automobiles and on foot are the highlight of the film. Completely nonsensical with clandestine meetings and corrupt cops expected to go undetected in the city that has more closed-circuit cameras than any place on the planet. A serious movie should take into account that follow-up investigations made by law enforcement will look at cell phone records and bank account histories. These criminals behave as if they aren't concerned about getting caught. The director and writer of this film apparently forgot these obvious facts. Cannot recommend this film.

Movie is plodding and predictable. I only found it because I am indulging a Rufus Sewell swoon, saw the title listed in his IMDb credits and located it on Netflix.

The Bad: The "plot" is a pastiche of so many (better) movies from the past 20-30 years. Actually from the beginning of movie-making (smile).

The Good: So many terrific character actors with arresting faces (another reason I love Rufus). So it was worth a watch late on a Friday night. Relaxed with a drink in hand. Linking the faces to other movies and TV series.

Over the past 2 years, I have binge-watched so many Brit and Aussie TV series and movies especially. I favor crime and drama. A long visit to London (and the Cotswolds) is on my bucket list. So while I respect the reviewers who say this movie doesn't present the London they know, the exterior shots sure look inviting to me here in Pennsylvania. Having lived previously in Washington, D.C., and environs, I know the annoyances of seeing exteriors that truly do not represent that city.