The Watchman (2016 TV Movie) User Reviews (6)

Definitely an unnerving watch

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 1 September 2016]

Carl is a CCTV night watchman, upset with his family life, he becomes frustrated and angered by the crimes he sees, feeling hopeless and annoyed by the lack of help from the Police, he decides to take matters into his own hands, and together with the help of his friend Lee, a Taxi Driver, he intercedes with a gang crime he's witnessed.

There were parts of this that were genuinely unnerving, you watched without taking a breath, some elements that were brilliantly done. Unfortunately it felt was a bit messy, a little rushed, had this had a longer run, maybe some of the problems would have gone.

There is the basis here for something brilliant, I have no doubt this will be picked up and made into a Horror movie. I toyed between a 6 and a 7, the ending lets it down enormously, but I think there was enough content for the higher mark, and the performance of Stephen Graham was excellent.

A definite merit, don't be shocked if this is turned into a horror movie soon. 7/10

Slightly messy, but still a fairly decent little film

[wellthatswhatithinkanyway · 7/10 · 27 August 2016]

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Carl (Stephen Graham) operates CCTV in a little centre all alone. Feeling pretty isolated, his only communication is with his friend Lee (Kieran O'Brien) over the cameras, and taking calls home from his troubled teenage daughter. His mundane existence is spiced up a little one night when he has to deal with a woman who is threatening to jump off the top of a building. But this is just the beginning of a terrifying night where he'll have to save Lee from a gang of drug dealers who have a score to settle with a two grand debt.

As the most heavily watched country in Europe, if not the world, CCTV permeates pretty much every facet of existence, and can cover many vast areas. The likes of Carl must exist all over the place, and Graham's portrayal must be typical of the sort that tend to work in jobs like these. It's the perfect setting for a 'real time' thriller, and like the best of them, it's (in this case very) short and sweet. As events are playing out literally as they're happening, it's a result like no other and The Watchman produces fairly hit and miss results.

The mood is impressively dark and grey, with the camera blurred out throughout, which perfectly encapsulates the grim, foreboding world the main character inhabits. There is also a genuine sense of tension and unpredictability about how events will turn out. But it's all also a little untidy, with the woman's suicide bid at the beginning not really tying in with the main story as a whole, as well as an ending that's meant to come off as unexpected and classy, but just leaves you with a sense of confusion and inconclusion.

It's still a generally decent effort, though, with lead star Graham perfectly suited to the role and an impressive air of mystery. ***

Inconclusive !

[pvmpro · 5/10 · 25 August 2016]

The plot of the short movie was real good and strong to even make a mini series out of it, somehow this was cut short in the end ,only the one who made will know why. The actor who played Carl is a terrific character actor for sure considering his BIO , but in the end, it all boils down what kind of message you happen to pass on to the audience.

The fact that he gets caught which gets him taken is such a weak climax IMO , I mean ,he could've easily obtained a Firearm or Police backup and saved his friend in the end... but he didn't . I guess he was so heartbroken cos of his married life, as he just went ahead and submitted to them. In a sentence, this movie had great potential to go on to be a mini series, as it was cut short to a weak climax like I mentioned before, nothing' more to it..

Short story with unsettling themes....

[joebloggscity · 7/10 · 27 August 2016]

In the UK, for many Stephen Graham can do no wrong. He has a good list of films & TV shows under his belt many of which some would crave to even have just one of them, be it the excellent This Is England film or Boardwalk Empire.

He looks and acts like your blue collar man, and you know what, he does it well. Here he again plays another foot soldier at ground level, acting as a surveillance man who gets involved one night shift as he sees drug dealers on the cameras and decides to take action. As you can guess it has dark overtones, and add in his family dysfunctions coming on board, it's a powder-keg.

It's dark, it's gripping, it's grim and you just don't really know how it plays out. It's all about Stephen Graham here and he carries it brilliantly.

The problem is that it needs further time and more fattening out. The ending which I won't spoil is clearly a homage to a famous cult movie for the British film viewers, and really doesn't fully work here.

It's a fine, interesting and challenging story. You'll find it worth a viewing.

disappointing

[j-cusick · 3/10 · 5 September 2016]

3 out of 10. for Stephen Graham's performance which is always stellar. the rest of this TV drama was rubbish though. the family he had were of no significance and annoyingly distracting, the thugs you just wanted Stephens alter ego from This Is England to unleash itself and unleash wrath on the teenager oiks. plus with all the footage he had of the deals, of the drugs bag, of the car license plates etc, going to the scene of his friends capture himself made no sense to me. Or why his character felt it necessary to return a bag to stop a teenaged oik who was involved in drugs from getting hurt. a lot of this drama had lots of plot holes imho.

Spoiler Alert***

[mitokkon · 10/10 · 21 January 2020]

I loved it! I found the length of the episode/movie to be just right. As someone else mentioned it could be part of a mini-series, and I would love to see a collection of dark/noir stories all along the same line. I thought the cliffhanger ending was perfect, not knowing exactly what was going to happen. To me, and maybe I just don't pay enough attention, but I thought he was happily married throughout the entire story until the end when he saw the "other" man walk in to what I assume was his former family home at which time he took off his wedding band and left it on his desk, as if he was finally coming to terms with reality. Lots of hidden gems in this, and all in a reasonable amount of time.