Now gangster/gangland movies have never really been my thing but every so often I'll take the plunge and check one out.
My interest in this one stems from having known one of the producers on the project. Now before you raise an eyebrow and think I'm about to sing lyrically about the movie without giving my real thoughts, rest assured I've thought long and hard about this review.
Obviously filmed in the time of Corona, so with that in mind I tip my cap to all for pulling the production together in such circumstances.
As the movie begins we see a little girl running along a beach, as to why, it's a case of watch carefully and don't blink, it's all plot relevant.
What happens when a feared member of the gangster fraternity returns from exile, will things remain the same? Or will time have moved on, well as Billy Murray's John Morgan soon discovers, time waits for no man and in his absence enter the ever so suave Bruce Payne as Damien Osborne to lay down the rules of the game.
Of course Frank Morgan has other ideas and along with his wife, Sadie played by Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott and daughter Kate played by Roger Moore's granddaughter Ambra.
With a movie of this kind, how do you inject something fresh into the proceedings, as I mentioned previously it all begins at the beginning with the very brief prologue, who is this little girl and what part will she play during the ensuing proceedings.
Of course with Frank Morgan's arrival back on home soil, this ignites long fuelled passions of anger within the community plus it reinstates the passion for justice within Nick Moran world weary police officer Frank Conway, can he finally put his stamp of authority on the the returning Morgan and make the streets just that little bit safer? Or will his own demons take hold and derail his own sanity.
Whilst entertaining to a point, there are some issues, certain scenes go on way too long, the direction isn't exactly flashy given that the Director James Crow is more known in certain circles for his frequent foray's into the horror genre but this assignment was a last minute gig as he replaced the original director Adam Stephen Kelly, who wrote the script for this movie.
There is a very jaw dropping scene involving Miss Sothcott, which at first glance was perhaps not needed, but if you recall the movie world of Roger Corman and his insistence that if the plot is flagging throw in some mild nudity.
Granted afterwards, I did ponder and wonder if the scene between Miss Sothcott and Lucy Aarden's character of Zoe that followed afterward should have went in a different direction.
The storyline is a little strained in terms of trying to follow it but no doubt revisions played a part in certain elements of the coherency of the plot, I must say though the scenes between Nick Moran and Ricky Grover as Billy in the bar room scene were excellent, very understated with both actors bouncing off one another with some choice dialogue, in some respects Nick Moran's character pretty much stole the show.
Billed as a home invasion thriller, this aspect comes into play with the party scene, and the events that follow with double cross shenanigans revealing themselves between all parties plus we get a twist in the tail which as twists go did sting a little as the plot devices used to wind up the story didn't at any point suggest what had happened in the life of Frank Morgan previously.
The movie itself has been a huge hit regardless of what I or any one else's think, and having been on the set of this movie I understand the blood sweat and tears that went into making it, but perhaps if they hassle given themselves more time and filmed at a later date we might have gotten a more polished production but to be commended regardless.
