Marching Powder

Marching Powder is a lot of fun as it nobly tries to be a romantic comedy with a darker edge due to its subject matter. There's no mistaking what you're going to get here and the opening sequence (both animated and live action) ensures you know exactly what the next 90 minutes are going to be like. It covers quite a bit within that shorter run time and always remains engaging even if it's undoubtedly frustrating to watch the cycle repeating itself so many times.

Danny Dyer's character doesn't make a strong case for any potential redemption or forgiveness so his natural charms are working overtime to keep him likeable which is the sole reason he remains a watchable presence. Every time he breaks the fourth wall it works and his self deprecating nature is also a big help. Stephanie Leonidas is the sole heart of the film as she gives Dyer too many second chances without being naive about the chances of success.

Nick Love's direction manages to maintain the playful nature throughout, starting strong with an animated fairytale opening and then finding various ways to include equally fantastical flourishes. It's a hard tone to balance, moving back and forth between brutal gang violence and more lighthearted relationship shenanigans but it does a pretty good job of handling the tonal shifts. Simon Stolland's cinematography definitely helps by employing chaotic camerawork for the fights.

'Marching Powder' is exactly what one would expect from a Danny Dyer (and Nick Love) movie. I'm a little split on how I feel about it though. Most of the comedy is quite lazy and forced, though a couple of jokes did get a chuckle out of me; e.g. Dagenham.

The fourth wall breaking is questionable, it kinda works for a few moments but is mostly ill-fitting and cringey. On the other hand, there is surprisingly one touching scene; it involves Kenny Boy on the blower, I genuinely felt it in the feels - very unexpected for a movie of this sort.

As for the cast, Dyer is mostly good in the lead role; far from perfect, but he gives largely what you'd anticipate. Stephanie Leonidas does well, while Calum MacNab is initially iffy as the aforementioned Kenny but ends up being one of the better aspects of this 2025 release.

All things considered, I think I do have to file this one under 'average' - rather than 'good'. It's somewhat of a close call granted, but I do believe that the cons outweigh the pros. The deciding factor is the plot, which basically finishes as it starts; barely any progress is made.

Hats off to Danny Dyer for at least putting his heart and soul into this, but as a piece of cinema it's poor, stereotypical and derivative of just about every other film he has been in - and a few that he hasn't. "Jack" is having a bit of a mid-life crisis as he realises that he's nearer the end than the beginning and hasn't much to show for it. His wife "Dani" (Stephanie Leonidas) reckons he's a waste of space and his daily regimen of lager and sniff isn't likely to change that anytime soon. A bit of routine football hooliganism sees him in front of a magistrate who gives him six weeks to get himself sorted out, else he is going to prison. Can he wean himself off his old habits and try to be a better person/husband/dad? Maybe Nick Love thinks that a constant stream of expletives makes for a good watch, but this was just puerile. There's not an hint of subtlety, no depth to the characterisation and without a doubt, the best bits are in the trails. "Jack" is a thug with few likeable qualities, and the strength of the drama between him and his wife is thrown completely under the bus when an incident with their son (Arty Dyer) should have put an end to the whole thing, but somehow just gets forgotten as what passes for a plot marches on. The whole thing has a 1980s look to it - attitudinally and aesthetically, and the occasional witty asides to the camera soon wear thin as we are presented with a slew of folks you'd cross the road to avoid. There is some humour in the script, but nowhere near enough to sustain this for what seemed like a lot longer than 90 minutes. A definite victory for hype over substance, powdery or otherwise. Sorry.

STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

Jack (Danny Dyer) is a middle aged dad of one, whose only outlet remains through organised ruckuses at football matches. After getting caught up in his latest scrap, a judge orders him to get his life back in order to avoid a prison sentence. Over the coming weeks, he attempts to reconcile with his childhood love, Dani (Stephanie Leonidas), secure a construction job with Dani's dodgy dad (Geoff Bell), and reconnect with his son, whose hit double figures. But his connection with the psychotic Kenny Boy (Callum McNab) threatens to derail it all.

"Back in the good old days, when men had a c**k and women had a s**g..." From the off-set, it's clear that the first collaboration between Danny Dyer and director Nick Love in well over a decade, somewhat unsurprisingly, isn't going to concern itself with any sense of political correctness. After all, who are either of them to disappoint their fan base, even in what are surely more sensitive, understanding times? But then, the film is an examination of a man whom time has passed by, and so it's all the more fitting.

The reunion of the directing/starring pair feels framed as a follow up to their signature piece, The Football Factory, despite featuring completely different characters in a completely new setting. In contrast to TFF's flashy, frenetic approach to its characters, Marching Powder portrays an older, more beaten down man, more honestly shown as a desperate loser with little else in his life. The tone uneasily shifts between tongue in cheek humour and heavy, more reflective drama, without the most focused plot to keep you following to the end, but somehow it does.

It's a throwback reunion of old faces of the British crime genre, in front of the camera and behind it, rebelliously non-PC, messy and incoherent, but funny and wild, pleasing to those it's aimed at. ***

I'm sort of glad that "Marching Powder" has been released just so I don't have to see the trailer anymore. For a British film, this has to be one of the more heavily advertised films I've ever seen - so much so that I almost didn't feel the need to actually see it, I'm so familiar with it's comedy beats.

Jack (Danny Dyer) has enjoyed a life of drugs, lager, porn and football violence for most of his life. Arrested following a fight in Grimsby, he avoids jail on the understanding that he'll start to turn his life around. Truth be told, Jack is starting to consider that perhaps he's getting too old for this life anyway. He's relationship with wife Dani (Stephanie Leonidas) is struggling due to emotional absence and his lack of libido. His father-in-law (Geoff Bell) hates him, and his son (Arty Dyer) is starting to show worrying signs of following in his father's footsteps. But will his friends, and his own anger issues, allow him to change?

The familiarity of the film perhaps extends beyond the oft repeated trailer. Both Dyer and Nick Love have been making films and TV in this South London; casuals; drugs and violence genre for years, with neither perhaps finding the respect they are due for continuing to work, if nothing else. "Marching Powder" is a little different because, despite how the adverts have mocked romantic comedies, that's what the film really is. It hinges not on whether he will avoid prison, but can he save his marriage. There are sub-plots though, some of which contain some genuinely disturbing moments that work alongside the comedy.

Dyer is quite good in this. Admittedly he's playing an aging out 'wide boy', whilst at the same time aging out of playing 'wide boys'. But it's a gutsy performance that exposes himself quite a bit.

Ultimately, like a lot of Love's films I've felt, it doesn't really add up to all that much. It hinges on a moment of violence that should, perhaps, be the final push that Jack needs but, ultimately, we do leave him pretty much as we found him. There are a few laughs along the way though.