Down Terrace (2010)

The shocker wasn't the predictable ending but IMDb's page. "Comedy/Crime" it says. What comedy? There wasn't an iota of a funny moment in this. The movie was interesting throughout – barring the slow and muddled 10-15-minutes intro – but if this was intended as a comedy then it failed miserably. As a crime drama it's an 8/10, as a comedy it is a round zero.I enjoyed the various plot-twists, but who didn't realize that Karl's mental instability would lead to murder within the family? The movie's other problem is its lack of realism. A family this distrustful would have annihilated each other years ago, because we have to assume that Karl didn't become a manic-depressive trigger/hammer-happy psychopath overnight. The ease with which Maggie kills her own brother doesn't ring true either, even though it was a fun plot-twist. The ease with which Karl's PREGNANT girlfriend butchers Maggie rings even less true. Having one brutal female killer in a movie is acceptable, but having two is just stretching the credibility somewhat.Just because all these people are involved with the mob cannot make ALL of them criminally insane, not to this extent anyway. They kill each other off far too easily – within a very small time-frame - while displaying a lack of discipline and self-control that makes me wonder how the hell these people ever even got into organized crime (organized, meaning you don't just go and kill anybody you want off-hand) and how they managed to last longer than an hour. Key word: "organized". If the British mob were this anarchic, it wouldn't exist; it's that simple. Fact is, it's not just the family that is kill-happy, but everyone else also. I was half-expecting a milkman to appear out of nowhere and to start swinging knives and axes around.Again, I refuse to forgive the film on account of it being allegedly a comedy – because it clearly isn't one. (God help DT's writers if they thought they were writing one!) I suppose a lot of the interesting twists came at the expense of logic and credibility, both of these being sacrificed in order to advance the story's interest potential. Even if it were a comedy, it's not a comedy in the ZAZ or even Guy Ritchie vein, hence a certain degree of realism has to be expected.A word of advice to the director and writers: the only way a black comedy can work – i.e. be funny as opposed to just interesting – is to turn it into a stylized, large-than-life venture, not a kitchen-sink ordeal. The kitchen-sink approach works only for drama, never for a comedy within a serious context i.e. a serious subject matter. You can't make a bunch of bonafide psychopaths funny and amusing if you film them with a wobbly camcorder, getting the viewer too close to the reality of their dark existence, warts, kitchen-sinks and all. Plus, you need actors with comedic abilities, and those aren't easy to come by."British Sopranos" my butt. Watch this as a psychological crime drama and you will get something out of it. Watch it as a comedy and you will be extremely disappointed.

This film was billed as a comedy but I found it so darkly comic that I could almost take it as a straight-up drama. All the performances were excellent with both Robert and Robin Hill putting in stellar turns. A cross between a kitchen sink drama and a fly-on-the-wall documentary, I found the filming style made for a compelling watch. Unfortunately there were a couple of niggles. They are supposed to be drug dealers but we see no drug dealing going on. Also, the police were very conspicuous by their absence; not one policeman seen all the way through. You'd have thought the police would definitely be watching someone with their track record. Other than that I found it an interesting and compelling watch. Just a word for the squeamish though, Ben Wheatley does not hold back on the violence. There are a couple of quite graphic scenes in there that might have you wincing.SteelMonster's verdict: RECOMMENDEDMy score: 7.1/10.You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.

This is the reason I watch British films. Its not for the pomp and circumstance and hither thee will and stuff. It's because the dialogue and characters are as rich as a velvet cake. From the opening scene I was engaged and entertained. Half the dialog in this movie doesn't push the story along just flushes out the character's more. The main characters just got out of jail and are desperately trying to figure out who turned them in. And by "desperately" I mean complaining about the quality of the welcome home cake. For being gangster they really never do anything gangsterish. No deals, no dealing with the police, no rival gangsters. Some brief repartee, some tit for tat then the next thing you know, …..They just start killing everybody for every reason, none that have to do with the upcoming court case and snitching.

This low budget British crime drama is as entertaining as it is inspirational for film makers everywhere. Played by a real life father and son in the main character roles, the story revolves around the two men (shot mainly in their real life family home) as they are released from prison and set out to determine who is the police informant in their circle. It makes excellent use of a simple acoustic soundtrack, also helped by the fact that the father likes to play guitar as well and is an old hippy, who has, over the years morphed into a gangster and so is different from your usual cockney style villain. This being shot in Brighton also shows a different side to the city which is usually perceived as simply a holiday destination. The plot while being slightly ambitious is played out by the actors very convincingly and holds your attention throughout. I would encourage anyone to see this movie, apart from maybe Michael Bay!