Dead Man Running (2009)

The British gangster film has been rising since a guy called ... Guy R. made his mark on that particular "genre" (or sub-genre or whatever you wanna call it). But while "Lock, Stock ..." and "Snatch" were somewhat original, this feels very formulaic. It's not so much the actors (though Mr. Dyer seems not to have a lot to do in this one or Tamers "woman", who only gets to get her kink on in some scenes), but the fact that you do know where this is going ... long before it gets there.Now this isn't always entirely bad. But it would have been really good if the characters were better drawn. And I'm not only talking about the main characters, but also the supporting cast. They mostly stay bland, while they fail to be remarkable, not leaving any kind of impression you will remember after a few minutes.Still and especially for fans, this will be somewhat satisfying and it moves along quite nicely, even if a few things feel forced (like the "twist(s)") towards the end of the movie.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Nick (Tamer Hassan) is trying to put his criminal past behind him and start up a successful travel agents. But he's in money worries getting it off the ground and even worse American gangster Mr. Thigo (50 Cent) has arrived in London and Nick owes him quite a bit of money. And just to remind him, Thigo takes his mother hostage and gives him twenty four hours to find the cash he owes him...or she dies. And so, with the assistance of his quirky business partner Bing (Danny Dyer) he begins a mad dash around the capital and even up north getting into scrapes involving underworld kingpins, motorway police and the lowest of the criminal underworld.This latest addition to the Brit gangster flick came out of nowhere but looked rather slick and stylish, not to mention having the surprise inclusion of well known rap icon 50 Cent in the cast. Alas, it looks really cheap and awful, shot with a murky camera lens through out that brings it down a peg or two. But that's not the main thing wrong with Dead Man Running, a vapid, empty affair that fails to be thrilling or funny in any way. Even a lively supporting cast in the shape of Brenda Blethyn, Phillip Davis, Scot Williams and Ashley Walters can't bring it to life, plenty of material to go on but failing to strike a chord with any of it. As for lead stars Dyer and Hassan, they've worked well together before, but it would seem they fall apart without Nick Love to guide them. *

Well I enjoyed it. It was just good fun and made me smile several times. I'm unfamiliar with the two leads so I'm not fed up of them. Brenda Blethyn was terrific as usual.The soundtrack was quite good too and I enjoyed the contrast when the classical piece took over.Not sure the 'kill' would have been so clean with a sawn off shotgun. I thought they made a bigger mess than that."This movie even has big football movie connections it was funded by non other than Rio Ferdinand...that's right I said that huge football star Rio ferdanando..or something like that." He's England Captain and plays for One of the World's Biggest clubs. I think that qualifies as pretty big.

I didn't know what to expect from this film except that the poster made it look like an honest-to-goodness thriller that could've been made any time in the past 40 years, and that appealed to me. In the event, it's a well-played noir mostly set in London (though you get no real sense of the city, and it's a shame they had to show Big Ben) in which Nick (engagingly played by Tamer Hassan) has 24 hours to find £100,000 or he, and his mother (as always, a superb performance from Brenda Blethyn) will be 'buried in a shallow grave'. Well-paced, with a reasonable twist, it's only a shame that most of the dialogue is quite lame, and everything has a second-hand feel, but that's deliberate, I feel, and we need more movies like this that have a heart of noir while only seeking to entertain. The audience I saw it with, in Wandsworth, were thoroughly entertained.