Jackdaw

Simple gritty scenes of bike chases, raves and fights. A decent movie about family revenge. No-ones going to win an oscar for this but it will keep you engaged for 90-minutes and if you like old skool rave then the soundtrack and rave scenes are great fun.

Don't believe all the negative reviews, you'll know if you like it in the first ten minutes. If you like any sort of revenge / chase movies then this is for you. If you also like bikes / rave toons then you'll love it. It's rare I check out the sound track of a movie afterwards but I'll be checking this one out - some classics that had me waving my glowsticks!.

Quite harshly judged by some of the other reviews. If all films below 6* on imdb were like this I'd be happy. Not a world beater for sure, but I really enjoyed the retro feel of it, and the soundtrack that went with it. Ended up uncertain about whether it was a recent film or slightly older.

I think the film reflects the sometimes mundane nature of the drugs trade and people involved in it, but it still kept me entertained and engaged. The atmosphere was sustained through the film for me.

Loved the setting on the film in the North East. Would happily seek out and watch anything else by this director.

Director can shoot nice looking stuff, the opening ten mins are suspenseful and well shot/edited.

After that opening, the whole thing collapsed into a badly realised student film type script with no credible characters, terrible attempts at comedy and zero credibility.

Which is a shame as it had a promising set up, and was attempting to do a Walter Hill type action film.

Characters are paper thin badly realised cliches and the dialogue is dire. There isn't a realistic interaction between anyone after the opening ten or so minutes.

Telling, the opening was mostly silent.

Hire a proper scriptwriter next time (if there is a next time).

Missed opportunity.

We have just watched JackDaw, loving its getgo, till Jack returns home to find out that his brother, Simon, was not home. From then on the main character interacts with a number of horrible characters who do not make any sense, ripping the film apart, forcing me and Mariefe to walk out of Robinsons cinema 3, that's how bad it transformed itself into.

Actually, the movie Mariefe and me originally wanted to watch was "Argylle." But that was being show at 9 pm, and that is why we ended up here. Really, we tried to like "Jackdw", tried to make it to the end, but we just couldn't. (this is our opinion)

Jackdaw is a solid indie action thriller. The first twenty minutes are top notch, the way it is shot and the vidual ideas are better than most big budget films nowadays. Unfortunately it isn't able to sustain that high momentum and becomes a bit more like a mundane gangster story. It it is obviously a low to mid-budget movie, but that never bothered me. You can tell that the crew put a lot of heart into it, the good lighting does make this look better than the standard DTV fare. The weakness lies in the writing, especially he protagonist is not very interesting on paper. The brothers relationship seems only sketched out, the family angle started intriguing but I expected more. In terms of action, the best parts are at the beginning and I wished they would have done more with the motor bike and the uneven terrain. There is too little vehicular action, especially when the poster or the trailer are suggesting otherwise. Most action set pieces fizzle out and it felt like there is always that final piece missing to make it memorable.

Still, there is something about this movie and it's simple premise that kept me entertained and even stayed with me after the viewing. The locations and the vibe gave a nostalgic John Carpenter-esque atmosphere that really stood out, and although it has some problems with bland characters it was a good enough ride to recommend. At the end of the day it's a solid crime thriller with a few action elements, and it has heart.