Some flaws but generally a fine introduction to the gangster movie Guy Ritchie style

Rating: 7/10 (18 April 2006)

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits
A member of a small group of cockney wide-boys loses in a poker game and finds himself in debt to a feared local mob boss. Desperate to keep his fingers, him and his friends agree to rob a gang that are about to rob a gang of local drug dealers. But no one's going quietly- and things threaten to turn nasty.
As well as Ritchie (behind the camera) the film also made fairly big names out of it's main stars, Jason Statham, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran and Jason Fleming, not to mention the acting debut of notorious soccer hardman Vinnie "it's been emotional" Jones.
We're certainly not talking about a bad film, here, a film that definitely got some big names rocking and rolling and understandably so. But the plot doesn't flow as smoothly here and it's filmed through-out in a really dinghy use of the camera that didn't appeal. Not to mention an ending that feels like it's dragging on somewhat.
A good film, then, very stylish and quite clever, but Ritchie was to make a more digestible and enjoyable film a few years later with Snatch. Just my opinion, of course. ***