Review of Filth (2013) by Paul B — 15 Jan 2014

Excellent! "Filth" is like the bastard son of "Trainspotting", "Bad Lieutenant" , and "A Clockwork Orange" and who would not love a combination of those great films! James McAvoy gives undoubtedly the best performance of his career as Bruce Robertson, a detective who wants to get the ultimate promotion by sabotaging all the other detectives who are going to be competition for him.

However, his biggest competition is himself. Just as the title suggests, a lot of filthy deeds are dealt by the main character as he slimes his way through everyones lives and makes a mess of them by his abuse of authority, drug addiction, alcoholism, and more than anything, his lack of of any morals what so ever.

But, you may be surprised to discover that there may be a reason behind all if this. You will notice a lot of similarities to "Trainspotting" which shares the same fast paced Scottish dialogue, signature humour, drug addiction, and a dark story though out all of it's hilarity and insanity.

Makes sense considering that Irvine Welsh wrote both "Transpotting" and "Filth" novels. It does not hurt either, giving us a very black comedy/drama about the almost limitless powers you can obtain as a guardian of the law.

"Filth" may get under the skin of some, but I'm sure if you are planning to watch this, you have seen worse. Really solid sound track, great supporting cast including: Jamie Bell, Imogen Poots, Jim Broadbent, and Eddie Marsan, A really solid screenplay, and again, a really great performance by James McAvoy.

One of the best films of 2013! See it!