Review of London Boulevard (2010) by Chris W — 17 Apr 2012

Oscar winning screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed) decides to take a spin in the director's chair, and the result is London Boulevard, a slick and stylish British crime thriller (with a fair amount of humor) about a recently paroled convict named Mitchel who tries to go straight. The only honest living he can find for himself is working as a bodyguard and handyman for a recluaive actress and painter named Charlotte...whom he also begins a romance with. Things start off well enough for him, but the pressures of both his wild friend Billy and the offers of a top mob figure named Gant make it really hard for Mitchel to settle down.

Taking cues from a few other directors, namely Scorsese, Monahan delivers up a fun and entertaining little film filled with common elements from criem cinema, such as witty banter, cool cinematography and editing, and some fantastic needle drops. It's a fun and well meaning film, just not all that original. As a first time director, he does well enough I suppose, but overall there's nothing all that distinguishable about this film.

The cast are fine, and they give some decent performances, though there's not much chemistry between Farrell and Knightley. David Thewlis steals the show as Charlotte's handler Jordan, and he's probably the best part of the film. Clearly he should have been the focus. Ray Winstone of course is awesome and menacing, and he helps the film, but it's too bad the script is kinda muddled and doesn't add up to much.

I'm a sucker for cool music and camera work and that sort of thing, and even though that stuff works decently here, it's not enough for me to bump this up a notch, even though the younger less cinematically educated me would have given this a really high score. All in all, an okay film, but not what it could be.