Freight

I went to watch Freight on its opening night at the cinema and ended up going back the following night as well. Freight is a gritty, British action film, based on the cruel reality of human trafficking from eastern europe; the women forced into the sex trade, the men into cage fighting. The film pulls no punches in showing this. The good casting of the cold, ruthless Russian gang members really adds to the harshness of the film. Freight grabs your attention right from the opening scene and holds it throughout. If you watch Freight not expecting multi million dollar, over the top, Hollywood action and special effects, you will have an enjoyable and impacting 90 minutes

As a fan of British gangster movies I was looking forward to watching this, but this movie is so bad - one of the worst I've ever seen. The similarities to Taken in terms of plot are obvious, but that's all this has in common with that much superior effort. The direction in Freight is hit and miss and the script is terrible, it often resembles a home movie with added fireworks. Sadly some of the acting is even worse than the script. Did the director not bother with auditions? There are so many bad performances in the movie but the actors playing the twins are so bad they'll actually make you laugh, two passers-by could have been dragged in off the street who would look more comfortable in front of a camera. The best advice I can give to the actor playing Stevie is to give up and get a proper job, because he is not an actor. His brother playing Sonny may be even worse and more wooden, removing the energy out of every scene he's in with a strange anti-charisma and expressionless face. Hardly surprising to note via IMDb that other than a bit part on Channel 4 he has hardly worked since he left run of the mill daytime soap Doctors. You wonder how some actors manage to pay the rent.

Trying to look at the positives I suppose the film has it's heart in the right place, human trafficking is an evil that ruins many lives, but you have to wonder about the good that charities concerned with helping the victims of human trafficking could have done with the £2.5 million budget which Freight supposedly cost (what WAS that budget spent on, it looks like it cost a tenth of that amount). A couple of other positives, and the reason this gets two stars from me rather than one, are the performances of Billy Murray and Laura Aikman. Both actors should be free of any criticism aimed at Freight. Murray phones it in here, appears to be going through the motions and thinking about the pay cheque (just like those ambulance chasing commercials he appears in) but he is as competent as ever. Laura Aikman does well also as kidnap victim Julie. She clearly has talent, it's just a shame she ends up in duffers like this. Taking a look at the directors IMDb profile it appears he's a relative of hers (Uncle? Father?) so you can understand why she took the role on. Sadly though appearing in movies like this may only harm her future employability. St Paul may have a future as a director, but probably not as a writer, and hopefully he will do better in the future with a script created by others.

Freight delivers a reasonable story, decent acting and a fair message. While it's not top budget, it's well paced with sufficient action to keep you going. The story has appeal without being overly sentimental. If you appreciate indie film, moderate transgression, and a few punch-ups - this little flick delivers.

The bad guys are also well done. Danny Midwinter - as the lead nasty, does an excellent job of being nefarious. His sneer and wonderfully grotesque laugh captures the sinister Eastern European Mafia persona quite nicely.

It won't hurt you to give this a try.

I caught this in Cannes and was thoroughly impressed as the UK has been crying out for a good, character-based action film for ages. The set-pieces in the film (some brutal cage fights and other action scenes) are really well structured, but more importantly they all have a sense of character. You really care about the characters involved and their motivations dictate the actions they take. Also the action is refreshingly realistic and crisply shot and edited, unlike a lot of other films these days.

I won't mention any spoilers but the performances here are very good, especially Billy Murray as Gabe, and Danny Midwinter who gives a genuinely terrifying performance as the main villain Christi. Craig Fairbrass lends solid support but his character is the only one that feels slightly under-written, unless perhaps some of his character's scenes were deleted? Christi's main henchman (Andrew Tiernan I think) and the main cage fighter character were both splendid as well.

The ending of the film is a bit ambiguous but this only adds to the reality of the situation portrayed.

I would recommend Freight to fans of action drama, and for fans of cracking, old-school British cinema. You won't be disappointed.

This is a facts and figures review of FREIGHT, rather than an opinion based review, and it will hopefully lead the reader to be able to judge whether it is a film they wish to see. DESCRIPTION: themed on sex trafficking, human trafficking, it inevitably relates to gang crime and has violence and action. It is a pacey movie that follows two families, one UK and one from Moldavia who are effected by trafficking. The film has a strong female story/interest so is not just a boys action film. Similar to Taken in some ways. CERTIFICATION: the producers wanted and felt in could be a 15 but the BBFC gave it an 18, it was sent back and reviewed by senior inspectors who sympathised but upheld the 18, not on the level of violence but 'the overall tone' of the film and it's harsh depiction of the sex trade. The BBFC notes can be seen on their site, but they obviously felt the treatment of sex trafficking was more disturbing than Eastern Promises, which they gave a 15 and more in line with Taken that was given an 18. There is no use of the 'c' word, and just over 60 uses of the 'f' word. There is almost no nudity and no enforced sex scenes as in Eastern Promises. ORIGIN AND STORY BASE: The script was anchored on a Moldavian plight after the writer saw Michael Pailin's New Europe when he was shown, by a UNISEF officer, the huge trafficking problem in the poorest country in Europe. youtube.com/watch?v=fEMRmqkZ1Hw It uses a collection of stories about Eastern European crime in the UK, highlighted by the recent high profile case of the Romanian father and son prosecuted for sex trafficking in the UK. It is set in northern England, mentions Leeds, but could be anywhere. DVD and EXTRAS: If the copy you are offered does not have the ICON logo on the front it is likely a pirate of a very early test edit. The real DVD has the ICON logo and is the version seen in the cinema. The real version also has 112 minutes of interviews including the Eastern European actresses who have first hand knowledge of sex trafficking and behind the scenes footage and films which differ from the many films on the Youtube.com/freight2010 TV channel, which in itself gives enough background and footage to show the film you will see. INDUSTRY ACLAIM AWARDS: Action films do not normally win awards so it was only entered into 3 festivals in the USA to develop a market there as it has no US stars. Surprisingly it won Best Director and Best Actor at the prestigious Breckenridge Film Festival, the Silver Palm Award at the Mexican International Film Festival with a special note on its 'excellence in film making'. It was also nominated (last 5 in category) for Best Special Effects (Graham Aikman) and Best Foreign Film (non US film) at the AOF in Los Angeles. CAST: With no real movie stars, Billy Murray, Craig Fairbrass and Laura Aikman are the best known. But all the others are known for TV shows somewhere. The films web site is full of information and pictures and links freight2010.co.uk If you want to see footage and clips youtube.com/freight2010 will give you ample opportunity. The official press site is handled by noble PR on noblepr.co.uk/Press_Releases/icon/freight.htm CONCLUSION: there is enough material around to assess the film well and it does do what is says on the tin. If you like action films you will like it, if you like human stores it will have enough depth but be disturbing, it is not an easy subject matter… but see the directors other film Devil's Gate and you will see he hits topics head on. If you are Russian or Romanian, you might be a little offended, but it is not about all Eastern Europeans, just the criminals and it shows good and bad in all. If you use the sex trade or work in it, you definitely won't appreciate this film.