Denicio_Del_Toro

Well acted, nicely shot, and with a solid score, this is a decent feature. It's only real flaws are an extremely derivative, and occasionally confused, plot; and some slightly clumsy dialogue at times.

It looks good, without being spectacular, which entirely suits its council estate setting. Combined with excellent performances from the leads, it could almost work as a pure kitchen sink drama. Despite not being given much to say, Harry Treadaway and Greg Wise are a convincingly troubled father and son. The support is also broadly good; Tom Felton is particularly notable.

The troubles come with the exasperatingly unoriginal plot - it borrows and from a whole selection of similar films. The good news is that it does choose some of the best to steal from; the trouble that it isn't good enough to stand up to these classics. However, it holds together well, at least until the latter stages, when a few too many extraneous ingredients are thrown into the pot.

Broadly, a decent effort if not outstanding. Given the mechanics, I would be interested to see future work from the team behind it - they just need some more original ideas to start with.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this film. I'd actually gone to see something else, but was running late, so it was a pleasing accident to end up seeing this.

The characters are well rounded and likable, despite their flaws (though these are where the story comes from), and the setting is pretty without overwhelming. Not an awful lot really happens, but then this is really about the developing friendship between the three leads. Too many films are made where this would require some great on screen event as a catalyst, but here a little bit of well introduced history is quite enough. In short, it's about real-life people rather than the usual Hollywood cartoons.

A number of people have commented on unrealistic elements, but I didn't find any problems at all just sitting back and enjoying.