I was very impressed with the trailer for this film, starring Robert Carlyle and Jonny Lee Miller as two highwaymen robbing the rich... and keeping it for themselves. By setting you up for just another costume drama, and then proceeding to blast the corsets apart in a riotous mix of imagery and sound.
However, when I got to see the film, I began to see the flaws. The opening section is very dark and sets the scene well, but drags on too much. The middle part is perhaps the best, with some great set piece scenes - an extravagant ballroom dancing scene played out like a Friday nightclub, the raid on the dinner party. Then the final part falls into the usual hackneyed formulaic conclusion.
It's a pity because there are a lot of things I do like about the film. The use of music (by Craig Armstrong, strings arranger to the stars) is extremely good and the support lent by Alan Cumming and Alan Stott as, respectively an over-the-top dandy and a dour "thief-taker" rounds out the film a bit more.
Unfortunately, Liv Tyler, as the love interest (who actually gets to wield some guns), has a pretty underwritten part. The locations are suitably dirty but I can't help feeling I've seen it before. And despite their best efforts Carlyle and Miller never quite lift the script above the "mildly engrossing" level.
Basically, for a film which advertises itself as being about action and characters, it doesn't have enough of either. All it has is the promise of a better movie, and a catchy tagline: "They rob the rich - and that's it". Director Jake Scott will probably do a lot better in the future.
Plunkett & Macleane is ultimately a film that, despite trying its hardest, fails to deliver the goods. And that's it.
However, when I got to see the film, I began to see the flaws. The opening section is very dark and sets the scene well, but drags on too much. The middle part is perhaps the best, with some great set piece scenes - an extravagant ballroom dancing scene played out like a Friday nightclub, the raid on the dinner party. Then the final part falls into the usual hackneyed formulaic conclusion.
It's a pity because there are a lot of things I do like about the film. The use of music (by Craig Armstrong, strings arranger to the stars) is extremely good and the support lent by Alan Cumming and Alan Stott as, respectively an over-the-top dandy and a dour "thief-taker" rounds out the film a bit more.
Unfortunately, Liv Tyler, as the love interest (who actually gets to wield some guns), has a pretty underwritten part. The locations are suitably dirty but I can't help feeling I've seen it before. And despite their best efforts Carlyle and Miller never quite lift the script above the "mildly engrossing" level.
Basically, for a film which advertises itself as being about action and characters, it doesn't have enough of either. All it has is the promise of a better movie, and a catchy tagline: "They rob the rich - and that's it". Director Jake Scott will probably do a lot better in the future.
Plunkett & Macleane is ultimately a film that, despite trying its hardest, fails to deliver the goods. And that's it.