XoWizIama
Excellent adaptation.
WillSushyMedia
This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Abbigail Bush
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
PTR_theReturn
Well there's not much to say that hasn't already been said about this terrible film, particularly the idiot who ruins the entire film doing the voice over - he attempts to sound 'ard and menacing but ends up SHOUTING EVERY SINGLE WORD and just sounds like a total nob head who cannot act to save his life. The characters were all wrongly cast, and wrongly acted by a bunch of fools, The exception being the guy playing the grass, who should have swerved this movie as he is actually a good actor and deserves better scripts and Co- stars than this pile of crap. 'Rise of the foot soldier' was so so much better in every aspect, better cast, direction and writing. Don't waste time and money on this, watch foot soldier if you haven't already, and leave it at that. I noticed a couple of positive reviews here, don't be fooled, I bet they are from the idiots that had something to do with the making of this film lol *********AVOID THIS MOVIE AT ALL COSTS*******
Si H
Where do we start. If you really have nothing else to do, you could do worse.Paul Tanter is an up and comer, but he is in danger of "pigeon holing" himself in this genre of gritty crime dramas. He is obviously talented and his past work with Simon Phillips and Nick Neverne is worthy of inspection. Phillips in particular was under used in the acting sense for this picture.OK the story - Same old, same old. with a couple of extra twists, which if you believe the front cover/poster, will enlighten us as it is the "only true Essex Boys movie". If you do, you'll be disappointed. Some characters were depicted with their real names, other were complete falsehoods, like the poor girl who tragically died. I am sure that there are reasons why real names were not used. Same format, different actors, apart from poor Kierston Wareing, who has now played Pat Tate's downtrodden lady in at least three films. Now Kierston is good, a very good actress, but she really must either live in Southend, close to the pier, or Alex Kingston sold the exclusive rights to the part, once she saw how bad Essex Boys turned out. Kierston, all that breeze coming off the North Sea is beginning to make your cheeks very rosy. Get inside and have a cup of hot tea!The main protagonists - Jay Brown I like, but in this part (Tucker)he seems to have been told to walk around like he was in a Mr Universe pose-down. He is so much better than that. The script obviously did not allow him to play the part with the charisma of Terry Stone who played the part on a couple of previous occasions. Pete Barratt swears his way through the move, as all previous Tate incarnations have to do. Unfortunately he doesn't look the part, like the hulking Tamar Hassan or have the presence of the charismatic Craig Fairbrass who I think is best actor to capture this hoodlum. (although you could argue that Hassan and Fairbrass gave Tate a comedic turn also, however warped that sounds.)The police detective was solid and Ewan Ross was believable. Unfortunately the scenes where he was the central character, gave him little to work with in terms of antagonist to converse with and develop his character more.There must have been investment from someone and I love the fact that people are still investing in UK film. Maybe this was a tax break, because if I was a serious investor - I would be upset with my end product.The story has been done and has been done better, much better. The worst of the films depicting this infamous story. It is time it was left alone now. I do not blame the actors. I blame a weak script and blasé production.3/10 - Could do better, but please do not try with this story again please.
djvapour
we have already seen a lot of films about this story (and all of then very enjoyable) but this film is spoilt but a story that feels rushed and a narration by someone who is clearly wants to be the local hard nut down his "locaaal Booooza mayte"Who ever done the soundtrack needs to do more research as this film is based in the early 90s but features up to date house and dnb throughout - a minor point you may think but it does make a differenceputting the tedious voice over and rushed story aside the acting is pretty good and the filming is goodSkip this and watch bonded by blood or essex boys if you want a better showing of this story
dgh180
A truly awful film,there are numerous mistakes,Michael Steele is portrayed here as supplying the ecstasy that killed Leah Betts which is completely untrue.Also it relies on imaginary events such as the Essex Boys whacking 3 drug dealers in Amsterdam,anybody who has even a basic knowledge of what happened in Rettendon in 1995 will laugh their heads off,i was simply gobsmacked at how this even got released,it is not even good enough to go straight to DVD.Kierston Wareing was great in previous 'Essex Boys' films but should really have known better,the acting is so over the top and the worst thing for me was the talk over by some idiot trying to sound threatening but actually coming across as a prize chump.
