Review of London Boulevard (2010) by Karlene G — 05 Apr 2011

Painfully attempting to be slick, and ultra British, LB is a cringe bringing Brit gangster flick. Farrell plays Mitchell, an ex notorious gangster fresh out of prison and employed to guard a paparazzi hassled girl. Ray Winstone takes 40 minutes to appear, and from then on the plot slows down, becomes more ridiculous and dull. He thus coxes Mitchell back to work. This films lacks seriousness, action and most of all direction, not to mention convincing gangsters.

Colin Farrell is always better being naturally Irish and so his performance suffers for his weak English accent, and the shallow depth of the character (no emotions so appears wooden). Winstone is comically underwhelming too. Keira Knightly is her usual annoying, posh British self. Anna Freil also woefully co-stars as a saucy sister. The cast is uninteresting, depth lacking pawns in a rubbish game of 'Snatch'-wannabe chess. Stephen Graham (This is England) and Will Chaplin (Game On) are also extremely and notably poor, as woeful cockney geezers.

The soundtrack is good, but again the film lacks substance and does not live up to the backing tracks. Awful plot, characters, a terribly wasted cast and a shameful effort. The idea, execution and M.O of the film all fall short.

This is the director's (William Monahan) first film, and it shows - having worked on the screen plays for The Departed and Edge of Darkness - both many times better than this film.