London's Finest

Normally I wouldn't stoop to reviewing or even watching one of the endless glut of embarrassingly poor mockney gangster romps that have tainted the British film industry ever since Guy Ritchie decided to give birth to said genre, but in this case, given the believable authenticity and blindingly scripted nature of said venture; I'll make an exception. Smack is the drug of choice in this tale, and likable user Cyrus plays the doped up protagonist finding himself on the receiving end of a particularly vicious and shamelessly corrupt detective looking to manipulate him into delivering a mammoth stash of brown. Fortunately Cyrus has sterling backup in the form of a pair of welsh gangsters who provide a wealth of snappy dialogue and brutish ballistics. Adding to the comedic energy are an equally deranged mob of Russians who the detective calls in to balance the odds. Every other character has their own podium of eccentricity on which to shine, and grimily they do. Naturally, there is foul language aplenty, but deployed in all the right places for a change, and the frequent incidents of gunplay are air- punchingly superb.

This is a strange hybrid of a film; on one hand it is quite a brutal London gang, drug and crime tale - with shooters. On the other it is actually quite a well realised dark comedy. I decided to suspend belief for ninety minutes and see what happened.

It is all about Sirus who is a mini cab controller, a seemingly nice guy and a drug dealer. He sells some of his gear to Welsh Yardies who drive up from the valleys for their stuff . There is also a particularly nasty cop - Priestly who is more rotten than a South American Junta, but also has a way with words that is both profane and actually very amusing. I would not want a parking ticket from him. He is on to Sirus and does not use the rule book in any way that a normal cop would recognise.

There is also 'casual racism' which may cause offence even where done for laughs, there is some graphic depictions of violence and there is a lot of shooting. Despite the plot errors and some less than savoury scenes I still found myself laughing and getting completely involved with all the characters. There is also a gang of stereotyped Russian meat heads who were all brilliant - even down to personalised phone rings. All in all this was ninety minutes that just flew by, and as such I wish I had seen this sooner.

Very much enjoyed the movie. It kept me thinking and made me laugh. The characters all worked well and the movie delivered what it said it would on the cover. Hats off to the film makers and cast cos they have made something very enjoyable and credible. More power to them all. It's great when a film allows you to get lost in another world and wonder what's going to happen next while making you laugh at different times too. I look forward to seeing future work from people who made the film as I found their work authentic and well crafted. They certainly have a lot of potential to go to greater heights and I look forward to seeing that arc in their careers.

Following in the footsteps of a Great British love affair with heist and gangster movie, Hackney Finest hits the bullseye.

The grim story is seasoned by just the right amount of (dark) humour. In this regard, it definitely echoes some of Guy Richie or Tarantino's moments of brilliance.

The characters are, if not lovable, definitely charismatic. The eastern European gangsters are just as hilarious as they are scary.

Hackney Finest is not trying to revolutionise the genre: it embraces it, and definitely delivers.

Another side thing I liked, especially in regards to the current attitude of "spoiling trailers", is that Hackney's Finest trailer stays true to the spirit of film without giving away the very best bits. Refreshing

Makes a nice change to movies out at the moment. This is a current, funny and slightly crazy (fun) movie and great for a night in and a pizza.

There aren't many movies made with such a combination of humour, gangs, drugs, bikes etc Great acting and funny characters with good music.

Would totally recommend to those who like Brit flicks. There's also an air of mystery with the movie with some unanswered story lines (pari) which is cook. Great chemistry between the actors Will look out for these actors in other productions Also like the lighting in the movie These movies can often be too dark which then becomes unpleasant