Review of Gangster No. 1 (2000) by Mourad A — 03 Dec 2013

I thought this was a brilliant character study. Malcolm McDowell is brilliant as the old, experienced hardened gangster, but the real star for me personally, was Paul Bettany, who played the gangster's younger self.

He paints this haunting and horrifying image of this sadistic sociopath who clearly wants to impress people he knows are his betters, but does his best to undermine them at every opportunity. What he is really left with in the end, is him being a cold, bitter man, who is clearly filled with regrets and false sense of satisfaction.

I enjoyed this experience, and I really felt the journey of this man, watching him rise to power. It doesn't matter that the transition is glossed over, we got to know his character from various angles, and what you really need to see, is the end result.

This is one of the finest British crime films, and it is up there with "Sexy Beast", where Ben Kingsley seemingly plays a similar type of character (although both are different and stand apart).