Essex Boys

This movie was reviewed as the English version of Goodfellas, and although the plot lines are similar in a way, and the insanity is much the same, it felt much grittier and harder-edged. Maybe it's the way they treat their women or something. Although the camraderie amongst the 'boys' appeared much the same superficially, underneath there was no 'club'. Sean Bean was so realistic as a bad-guy, that he was REALLY scary. Really hope it was great acting and not a window into his soul showing here. I was surprised at the quality of acting shown by Alex Kingston too. The supporting cast was fine, and it was interesting to see Essex for those of us who live on the other side of the pond. My interest was actually captured farther on in the film by the quick-paced events and the twisted plot line. Imaginative and surprising writing, although the dialogue wasnt as good as Goodfellas. Overall, i recommend it, but it was a hard one to watch -

Don't mean to sound like The Sun ,but if you want to see a gritty,violent gangster movie - this is the film for you! Mainly , the story of a young lad unwittingly pulled into a situation above his head.Enough twists and turns with reasonable dialogue and performances to keep you glued till the end.

This film looks cheap, features cheap low-life people, and is shot in a totally nasty, depressing landscape (around Essex and the Thames estuary, particularly the Dartford Bridge area). Furthermore, it's about drugs and dealers, particularly for the youth market. Yet it is interesting to watch, probably due to a very convincing performance by Sean Bean as the revolting Jason.

Sean Bean is usually quite a suave sort of character (Sharpe, Bond films, etc.) yet is both disgusting and convincing in this film. Plays a good London/Essex accent (considering he's from Sheffield) accompanied by tons of evil, sadistic violence.

If you want to "see" what a drug induced blank look really looks like Sean Bean's bedroom scene half way through the movie is a must see. He ain't trying to look good or mean or anything other then just be in the character. And he does that to the exclusion of the rest of the world. He's a git and he will make your skin crawl.

This an an ensemble cast and they fit together wonderfully. The ways they come together and come apart are believable. You may even feel compassion for some of them until you remember what everyone is doing.

At the end of viewing it I thought it was a once through but now a few days later I want to see it again and I am thinking seriously about buying th DVD.

Pretty interesting, not bad. More or less shows the evils of getting too greedy for your own good I guess... Alex Kingston was really good, the guy who played Billy was good too, but Sean Bean was the best. He's a very good actor (and very nice to look at too), he more or less had the whole movie in his hands.

It had a very surprising ending (although I got suspicious and then not-so-suspicious numerous times during the whole movie). The story wasn't bad at all, but watch it for the cast. 6/10.