The Bezonians

Some infrequent glimmers of very good dialogue are quickly overwhelmed by overused narration to replace character development, unlikable or annoying characters, implausible and overly long scenes that appear unrelated or irrelevant. If you like Vinnie Jones, he is only in the movie for 5 minutes. The Lola and Willard problem could have been more easily resolved than waiting like lambs to the slaughter. Why did we have to sit through Plato's overly long story about his experience with abortion that did not advance the plot. Sometimes interesting and quirky; but, not worth the time.

I loved watching this movie. The film takes us on a journey that is centred around a group of likeable rogues who hang out at their club "The Bezonians". Owner of the club (Plato) played by Andreas Karras, pretty much takes us through the events that take place as he narrates through the film at intervals cleverly introducing what we need to know about characters as they come into play or the situation that is about to unfold as the story is told pretty much through his eyes. The drama of the film really takes place after a game of poker which has not gone the way it was expected. From there on in, the world of the Bezonians (and Plato in particular) is turned upside down as a very real threat is presented to the group by the appearance of Willard Grieb (Vinnie Jones) a heartless and sadistic killer who comes to collect the debt owed to his "thought to be" girlfriend Lola ( superbly and seductively played by Lois Brabain Platt) for whom he is prepared to kill for. Truth be said... He really doesn't need much encouragement where there is an opportunity to inflict pain and Jones is superb in his role (so please ignore the negative comments from another reviewer here who can't even provide any constructive criticism having nothing to say about the film in any detail whatsoever).

The acting throughout is superb and there really are some fine performances to be seen. From the card game onwards the film takes a distinctive turn and as desperation sets in as the film begins to gather it's momentum with the mood becomes darker and desperate.

The film touches on themes of loyalty, love, loss, faith but above all hope. All these themes are well reflected within the group of Bezonians and how their faith in each other is tested and whether or not they can ultimately be relied upon? Together we stand, divided we fall. It is without question a bitter sweet ending but it's a journey worth taking and if these are themes that might be of interest to you then this is a film I would highly recommend you see. I for one will certainly want to watch this again.

In the current climate of mediocre big budget tripe this is a refreshing watch . Sit back and enjoy some brilliant dialogue . Shades of Ritchie direction .

From the outset this movie will remind you that you've seen it all before. It rips off Tarantino and Ritchie as best as it can without the A List talent. And that's it's problem. With a bit of imagination the director/writer could have put his own spin on the now 20 year old genre, but instead he chooses to rip off the narration style of Snatch. The freeze frame mid action shots of Guy Ritchie and even has a scene early on in a car where the two actors gave a completely unrelated iniquitous conversation about who's a better actor, Pacino or DeNero. What he fails to understand is that Ritchie and Tarantino gave us these styles. To copy them in a similar way is just not good enough. What we are left with is a film that's over written, over acted and over stylised without the budget. The Bezonians club is like an Elephant and Castle cab office from 1970s. It's so small. The characters are more annoying than interesting and you feel like the main guy is just reading pages of dialogue most of the way through. He's Dialling in his narration. It's the difference between learning your lines and thinking about your delivery and using autocue. It's why actors don't use dummy boards off camera. So the film isn't awful. It's just mehhhhhhh. My advice to the director and writer is... do something of your own. The script isn't bad, it's just old. Bring something new to the party.

This is a poor man's lock stock, can see trying to replicate but it lacks the acting, story and the music soundtrack. As others have said many scenes with no relevance to story, almost like scenes were dropped on the floor and put in order of pick up.

Vinnie does not appear that much so do not expect the classic vinnie villain from previous films, they could really have got anyone in.

Narrating is good and needed, possibly needed a bit more grit ala lock stock as more towards reading a bedtime story but it keeps you informed on the random screen happenings.

All in all its not dire, watchable if bored.