dragon_eye

Love clearly wants to resurrect the 1980s from terminal un-hipness. He provides a jukebox of the decade's best tunes and a catwalk of shoulder-padded fashion. (While the music stands the test of time, it's doubtful whether Fila leisurewear can be viewed with anything other than irony.) Unfortunately this idolatry of the period blunts the social commentary. We get a brief clip of Margaret Thatcher on TV early on, and in some ways, Charlie's gang are carrying out her mandate.

Unlike Scorsese, Love doesn't engage in the contradictions and complications that arise. Ultimately, he'd much rather go for the 'cool' attitude, showing his middle finger to community, morality and the conventions of an ending where crime doesn't pay. And despite solid work from the three male leads, there's a troubling misogyny at play. Every female character here is a combination of cheap, foul-mouthed, and untrustworthy and it seems to run deeper than the characters' own view of women.

MovieLover12

I have seen this one 5 times now and its always fun, being a gangster/crime film lover, it got me hooked.

It could be that all British directors who do a gangster/crime movie such as this, or like We Own the Night or Eastern Promises, there is a too blatant British theme that tends to go more towards the money, cars and casual disorganised kind of criminal lifestyle. But being British, the homegrown criminal lot will probably always chase the money rather then observe the rules and respect that made the American Mafia so good.