The Watchman

In the UK, for many Stephen Graham can do no wrong. He has a good list of films & TV shows under his belt many of which some would crave to even have just one of them, be it the excellent This Is England film or Boardwalk Empire.

He looks and acts like your blue collar man, and you know what, he does it well. Here he again plays another foot soldier at ground level, acting as a surveillance man who gets involved one night shift as he sees drug dealers on the cameras and decides to take action. As you can guess it has dark overtones, and add in his family dysfunctions coming on board, it's a powder-keg.

It's dark, it's gripping, it's grim and you just don't really know how it plays out. It's all about Stephen Graham here and he carries it brilliantly.

The problem is that it needs further time and more fattening out. The ending which I won't spoil is clearly a homage to a famous cult movie for the British film viewers, and really doesn't fully work here.

It's a fine, interesting and challenging story. You'll find it worth a viewing.