The Guvnors

More often than not, UK urban dramas are far from perfect movies with their search for realism completely backfiring and the finished product can seem over the top. The Guvnors is a story of two South East London gangs, one young and one old who both have their issues and roots to violence and crime.

Mitch, played by Doug Allen is an old school criminal, from a generation past, he no longer takes part in football violence or crime and has settled down in the suburbs with his wife and child. He has lost contact with his old friends from back in his younger days and would rather forget his past. Adam is played by Harley Sylvester (one part of music duo Rizzle Kicks), he is of the current generation of thugs, he lacks the respect that his seniors once had and is very much a street thug who's search to be feared and gain power holds no limits. As Adam and his gang hear of the infamous Guvnors (Mitch and his gang from years ago) they go on a rampage to become the new Guvnors of South East London, something which will bring Mitch out of his comfortable past and back into the violent streets that he left all those years ago.

The plot is pretty standard and there are no major surprises, it's relatively predictable and contains some of the classic clichés you would expect if you're a fan of this genre. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy this movie though, the acting was well above average, especially from Harley Sylvester – seeing him talk behind the scenes after watching the movie was surreal as he couldn't have spoken any different than he did for his role! He plays a detestable character with no redeeming qualities and he does it very well. To portray somebody like that you have to be convincing, they have to convince you to hate them and he did a very good job at this. Doug Allen did an OK job also, his character wasn't as strong or extreme but there were a few scenes in which he excelled and that was good to see.

I have read some negative things surrounding the ending of the movie, as this is a spoiler free review I won't comment on it too much but I will still give my opinion. Personally, I found it to be acceptable, maybe it didn't contain the amount of drama people were hoping for or maybe the outcome wasn't what people wanted but I didn't have any issue with it. The very final scene however was a little disappointing and not necessary at all as it did feel a little awkward.

In a story of Last Generations Old vs The Modern Youth, there needed to be a balancing act to keep the realism. The film is based mainly around the youth gang with snippets of the old gang being filtered into the story. It would have been nice to have seen some more shots of the elder gang together but that's just my personal opinion.

Overall, The Guvnors is a solid, low budget, UK Urban movie which is well worth a watch if you are a fan of this genre. Solid acting and decent pacing make it an above average movie for me and I would certainly recommend checking this out if you have a free couple of hours. 7/10

Guvnors is a predictable "what is violence?", "when do men grow up?" type movie.

There is no match day aggro, any of that is just shown in brief flashbacks, so you'll be disappointed if you were looking for another The Firm or Football Factory. While we're on the subject, the violence acted out is good, well choreographed and mostly believable.

No, this is a tale of an old nutcase in retirement who comes up against a rising young nutcase, so far so clichéd. We're expected to believe that one guy (played by one of Rizzle Kicks lol) who inexplicably sniffs a lot and his multiracial cartoon character pyschos can become feudal lords of a half deserted London estate. The son of our antihero is threatened by a clichéd giggling blond loony, all weird head tilting and playing with knives, so the retired Guvnors firm are rounded up and pressed into action.

Are they saving their community? Participating in primal scream therapy? Mid life crisis? It's never clear, but the main catalyst is 70s songster David Essex, incredulously, flooring the sniffing gang leader in Britain's darkest pub then his later fate at the hands of our young Scarface.

I cannot buy the gang, it's leader, what they actually do (who buys their drugs, nobody lives there?), the sketchy flashbacks to "something" happening in the past...but to be fair Doug Allen does a fair job portraying the bored, uptight Guvnors top boy and we also bizarrely, considering this is London, get real life old Zulus top boy Barrington Patterson in his first geezer movie appearance.

Summing up - OK for a hungover morning or a sick day off work, but don't expect The Firm.

This film has been written off by some lazy press reviewers as just another mockney fighting movie, probably due to its slightly unfortunate title and cover art.

The reality is that couldn't be further from the truth. Although I sat down expecting to watch some kind of sub-Nick Love fluff (which isn't setting the bar very high at all), this was a far better film than I had expected.

The cinematography, music, performances and pacing were all very good, and the story is far from the kind of nonsense you'd associate with most standard football hooligan-style movies. It has nuance, depth and some great twists. It's a proper film, basically, and not just a load of fighting. Though there's a fair amount of that too.

I don't normally write reviews but I felt compelled to defend this movie because on reading some reviews (after I'd seen the film) it seemed that a lot of people had got it completely wrong and probably prejudged it because from a glance at the box, you'd think it was a bit dim. But it isn't.

Good work all round.

Honestly, I'm surprised. I saw the name of this and decided to watch it, for no real reason, and after watching I checked out the IMDb page (as I usually do.) Seeing that this movie is 5.4/10 inspired me to create an account, finally.

This is a carefully-shot and thickly-written story which, despite some clear clichés, gets across what it wants to get across succinctly. Sometimes, the pace and storytelling gets blocky and unorthodox, but it's still altogether solid. The use of color, the acting, the dialogue, it's all enjoyable and not at all a bad mixture. I was expecting at least a 7/10. Odd.

It's not that great to start with but it looked like it had potential. The incessant sniffing by the main character adds to the annoying viewing. Made on the cheap and in places it shows.