Review of Brighton Rock (2010) by Jamie J — 26 Jun 2011

I feel relatively indifferent towards this, I wasn't expecting Quadrophenia or even a rough approximation of it, but whatever Brighton Rock was trying to be it seems to fall short.

I found most of the characters thoroughly unlikable, but I guess that is the point really, Pinkie is a young wannabe gangster who is only out for himself, his love interest is so deluded that she cant see what a wanker he is, and Helen Mirren's character Ida seemingly obsesses over bringing down Pinkie as some bizarre kind of revenge for another young wannabe gangster. It's hinted at that she may have had a thing for him, but really? She is positively ancient, and he is near enough the same kind of upstart that she detests so much in Pinkie.

Much like Quadrophenia it is nice to see a movie set against the mod/rocker wars of the 60's, but the main characters just don't have enough to them to make you care for them. I don't even think Brighton Rock is that complicated, the writers just seem to gloss over so much, and leave out so many details that it just feels half empty. Despite reaching nearly two hours.

Brighton Rock is by no means a bad movie, but it does feel like it would have been better suited to a television serial, if anything that is what it feels just like.