The story is an amalgam of others that you may have seen: a ram raid operation using a heavy truck (a la Heat [1995]), a setup that includes a rat in the ranks (as in Reservoir Dogs [1992]), a police station invasion (straight out of Terminator [1984]) all of which combine to present a passable thriller that's well acted, and produces the requisite surprises for the unwary viewer.
Try as I might, however, I can't quite accept Robert Carlyle as a vicious bank robber; Billy Connelly would have been much better, indeed perfect as the disillusioned socialist turned criminal. Ray Winstone, I think, was born to play criminals in movies; he's so good at it, you wonder who his role model is (who can forget him in Ripley's Game [2002] or Sexy Beast [2000]?). But, for this movie, the one you have to watch is Philip Davis as Julian, whose quasi-sociopathic turn does wonders for the twists and suspense throughout this movie. Quite frankly, if not for his performance, this would have been a far lesser movie.
The rest of the cast is uniformly adequate. Lena Headey, as Connie, plays the part of Carlyle's woman, but remains mostly in the back ground, only achieving more importance as the gang's business continues to unravel. It was nice to see Peter Vaughn, even in a bit part, as an aging friend of Carlyle; in fact, Vaughn's presence in the story is a bit of a puzzle because he's in it for all of seven or eight minutes only, and contributes almost nothing to the plot. However, he has such a delightfully lecherous smile...
There are some inventive scenes. The camera work for the ram raid is superb, with excellent editing, using many reverse angle shots and very quickly done seamlessly, as it should be. Later, when Carlyle finds out that their stolen money is being stolen by somebody else, he discusses the problem with his girl friend; and while he does so, he stands in front of a poster for a movie from 1990, Hidden Agenda, a Ken Loach classic! Carlyle shoulda taken notice of the writing on the wall, hmmm? The showdown between all the crooks (those still alive) at a cop's house is stark, casually vicious and shattering. And the finale in the police station is deadly serious (a big body count) but also borders on the camp, particularly when Julian goes plain nuts. You have to see it to appreciate it...
Sure, it is a well-done movie, and better than the usual run of cops and robbers film from the Brits. But, as I said, if it hadn't been for Julian grimly determined to get his money (much like Lee Marvin in Point Blank [1967] who just wanted his $40,000 and killed almost everybody to get it), it would have been more humdrum than humming along...
Try as I might, however, I can't quite accept Robert Carlyle as a vicious bank robber; Billy Connelly would have been much better, indeed perfect as the disillusioned socialist turned criminal. Ray Winstone, I think, was born to play criminals in movies; he's so good at it, you wonder who his role model is (who can forget him in Ripley's Game [2002] or Sexy Beast [2000]?). But, for this movie, the one you have to watch is Philip Davis as Julian, whose quasi-sociopathic turn does wonders for the twists and suspense throughout this movie. Quite frankly, if not for his performance, this would have been a far lesser movie.
The rest of the cast is uniformly adequate. Lena Headey, as Connie, plays the part of Carlyle's woman, but remains mostly in the back ground, only achieving more importance as the gang's business continues to unravel. It was nice to see Peter Vaughn, even in a bit part, as an aging friend of Carlyle; in fact, Vaughn's presence in the story is a bit of a puzzle because he's in it for all of seven or eight minutes only, and contributes almost nothing to the plot. However, he has such a delightfully lecherous smile...
There are some inventive scenes. The camera work for the ram raid is superb, with excellent editing, using many reverse angle shots and very quickly done seamlessly, as it should be. Later, when Carlyle finds out that their stolen money is being stolen by somebody else, he discusses the problem with his girl friend; and while he does so, he stands in front of a poster for a movie from 1990, Hidden Agenda, a Ken Loach classic! Carlyle shoulda taken notice of the writing on the wall, hmmm? The showdown between all the crooks (those still alive) at a cop's house is stark, casually vicious and shattering. And the finale in the police station is deadly serious (a big body count) but also borders on the camp, particularly when Julian goes plain nuts. You have to see it to appreciate it...
Sure, it is a well-done movie, and better than the usual run of cops and robbers film from the Brits. But, as I said, if it hadn't been for Julian grimly determined to get his money (much like Lee Marvin in Point Blank [1967] who just wanted his $40,000 and killed almost everybody to get it), it would have been more humdrum than humming along...