BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

ragou I was planning to visit Great Britain. Now I will not. Not the gangsters. Children that are killing just for fun. This terrifies me. Where this western world is going? I was planning to visit Great Britain. Now I will not. Not the gangsters. Children that are killing just for fun. This terrifies me. Where this western world is going? I was planning to visit Great Britain. Now I will not. Not the gangsters. Children that are killing just for fun. This terrifies me. Where this western world is going? I was planning to visit Great Britain. Now I will not. Not the gangsters. Children that are killing just for fun. This terrifies me. Where this western world is going? I was planning to visit Great Britain. Now I will not. Not the gangsters. Children that are killing just for fun. This terrifies me. Where this western world is going? I was planning to visit Great Britain. Now I will not. Not the gangsters. Children that are killing just for fun. This terrifies me. Where this western world is going?

sjackieveronica I agree with Matt Quigley (Belfast). I was expecting a satisfying British crime thriller, especially with such a good cast, but I was disappointed. The film's script let it down, and although the acting was up to par, especially Colin Farrell as main guy Mitchel, with a nod to David Thewlis as 'famous film star' Keira Knightley's sidekick protector, and Anna Friel as Mitchel's sister, the potential to make this a gripping tale was not realised.The dilemma of Mitchel (Farrell) coming out of prison, trying to go straight, but given his previously high profile in London's gang underworld of serious crime, finding this impossible, could have been developed into a dark moral story with possible redemption. But the disjointed progression of scenes with so many mis-matched and disturbed characters, while underlining the fact that 'we're all fxxxxd', as Mitchel says at one point, fails to make sense.Everyone is screwed up: Charlotte (Keira Knightley) with all her money is now utterly vulnerable, Mitchel can't get away from his heavily criminal past, his sister can't overcome her addictions, Charlotte's protector, Jordan (Thewlis) is beyond help in drink and drugs. Even the doctor (Sanjeev Bhaskar) who befriends Mitchel and ends up with his sister is seen as utterly flawed. Gant (Ray Winstone), the underground criminal overlord is horrible and you know things are not going to end well.The only redemption in this film comes to Charlotte. Mitchel's attempt to revenge his down-and-out friend's death rebounds on him badly and the irony of the knife he gave the friend becoming his own nemesis is unflinchingly bitter and cruel.The film is over-littered with bad language and the screenplay is unconvincing. The violence is extreme and only visual reticence makes it watchable. In retrospect I can see the point of the film/story, the moral dilemmas, the effect of crime, money, drugs, drink, violence, on the human psyche, degrading it to the point of self-destruction and destruction of others, but despite the actors' every efforts to make the whole thing work, by the end you just feel the whole thing has just been an exercise in exposing the violence people are capable of and gathering as much of it as possible into one film. I was left feeling unsatisfied, queasy, and with little faith in human redemption which is not pleasant. Hardly entertainment!

OJT A surprising movie in many ways, Londm Boulevard rewards the watcher. It's filled with classy British acting, and a great script. A slow, but stylish story, which kept me entertained way better than expected, with a poster looking quite more like a crime story. It's bleach, no doubt! Well, criminal it is, for sure. But it's more brutal than you expect, based upon a novel by Ken Bruen, of which I knew nothing about in beforehand.Mitchel gets out after three years in prison, determined that he wants to get away from the criminal scene, which is obviously a merciless environment. But that's almost impossible, as his old pals are all expecting him to do jobs. He takes a job as a lifeguard for a famous actor, but is this his way out. Well he thinks so, though his led environment both is difficult to get rid of, and the marks on his gangster soul is also difficult to run from.Colin Farrell is better here than I've ever seen him. Keira Knightley dies a good job, but doesn't steal the screen from him. But then the film is followed by great acting in minor roles by a load of great British actors. I must say I started loving each and every one of them, down to the brief encounter with the youngsters in extra-roles. What a great instructor director William Monahan is!And not only that! The film is scattered with a great soundtrack which is almost worth watching the film blindfolded! Starting off with (what I believe is a '66) Rolling Stones tune, we follow up with the Yardbirds, Pretty Things, the 22-20's, the Nox Tops, Drek and Cluve, the Electric Banana, the Knickerbockers, Kasanian, Bob Dylan, Annu Malik and a lot of other great stuff which I don't recognize, all with a sixties feel. Simply marvelous! And very suitable for the flick as well. Yummy! This was well suited.Maybe the best British gangster movie I've seen, if you not count in the couple which are all a big laugh as well. Because this is hasn't got the wit of "Snatch." or "Two smoking barrels", but is way more serious.This film was so great that I watched it a second time, on which I added an extra star! Look out for this film maker! I certainly will!

Leofwine_draca It's incredible that a man of William Monahan's (THE DEPARTED, EDGE OF DARKNESS) talents could consider this viable material for a feature film. It's an entirely superfluous and predictable London gangster movie of the kind that were doing the rounds 15 years or so ago, and yet it pretends and acts like it's a unique, fresh and contemporary take on the gangster genre. It's not, and nothing that happens here is a surprise.The main problem I have with Colin Farrell is a leading man is his inability to craft sympathetic characters, and his one here is no different. I actively disliked the guy from the very start, from when he stepped out of prison, and he does nothing to engage the viewer's empathy as the story progresses. His facile romance with a stiff Keira Knightley does nothing for him, either.It doesn't help that Monahan's script is chock-full of brain-dead profanity that quickly becomes irritating. It takes a certain calibre of writer to make profanity work - Tarantino finds a natural rhythm in it, for example - but here it's just grating in the extreme. The talents of numerous actors are also wasted in nothing roles; you wonder why Stephen Graham, Lee Boardman, Jamie Campbell Bower and Eddie Marsan even bothered turning up. Ben Chaplin and David Thewlis get more to do in support, but neither are at their best here. Thewlis is on autopilot while Chaplin is slightly uncomfortable and miscast. Ray Winstone is wasted in the most clichéd and predictable gangster imaginable, although Anna Friel is very sexy, I'll give her that.London BOULEVARD isn't all bad - it's fast-paced and has lots of twists and turns to keep you watching, of course - but at the end of the day it offended me with its glib attitude and refusal to provide originality in any way, shape or form. It even rips off part of CARLITO'S WAY with a certain bare-faced cheek.