The Intent

Good intentions do not always make a good movie. The action part of the movie does sort of work. They also know how to cut/edit effectively. But one of the major issues the movies has is its characters/actors. While I don't want to be to quick to judge the actors based on one performance, it is safe to say that the script does not give them anything or rather really much to play with and develop a character.

It feels like they knew what they wanted to do and the characters do feel "real", but they are not accessible to the viewer. So it is a shame and almost a waste. The movie might have had more potential if it took more notes from the movies it does try to copy.

Too many bad actors ruined what could have been a decent film. Over the top dialect which is sometimes confusing. The plot and story are actually very good but it's let down by the poor cast. Too much street talk for me too.

If you're going to make a film featuring cops and gangsters you need to have believability on both sides of the fence.

Unfortunately, it seems that a large (over the top) amount of effort was put into the gangster swagger, attitude and lingo - but no effort put into understanding or acting for the police or family outside the gangs. There were some good strong characters in this, but they were overshadowed by some of the laughably poor abilities of others.

Final nail in the coffin was the ending - abrupt and lacking in depth. It just completely ran out of steam.

OK, as mentioned in some reviews, a couple of the actors can actually act, though it seems to be a youth project with no one older than 30 playing in it, except the Maliks and the mother. Particularly implausible was a congregation filled entirely with teenager extras. Some of the soundtrack works, motorbike camera work as well and the tension at the meet in the pool-hall at the end is fairly palpable. As for the rest of it, particularly every scene involving the police - unshaven, with terrible uniforms/wardrobe and a potty-mouthed script every ten words - obviously no member of the Cast and Crew has ever watched an old episode of The Bill, if so, you would have been able to write and deliver a script that had some resemblance of the professionalism of the police force. As for the casting of the Sergeant, Miss Akokhia, well, saving the best for the end. Do not waste your time watching this stereotyping, guttural tosh.

I really don't know how this film got such a high score?! Normally IMDb scores reflect the quality of the film but in this case I'm not so sure. One of the other films where IMDb is way out is Chappie- a complete load of rubbish! Was really looking forward after reading reviews and watching trailer but it wasn't long before I didn't have a clue who was who and what was going on! I love gritty Brit films especially crime/gang related but this fell way short of expectations, a real let down. If you're a little bored maybe watch, but don't expect it to reflect the high rating. The acting is not great, the storyline maybe acceptable but it just doesn't seem to work.