So Danny Dyer will never get nominated for an Oscar. In fact, I usually find him more wooden than Noah's Ark. However, this is not his worst film. Yes - the character of Holland (Alistair Petrie) was so over-written that he became almost a caricature of the uncaring, ambitious cop. And aside from the few political twists and turns, this was a straight-forward revenge movie with no apologies made. But to see reviews with ONE star (and even no stars in one case) is somewhat harsh. You're telling me that there are even low-budget horror movies out there better than this? These kind of rankings tell us more about the reviewers than they do the movie. Seriously guys ... these types of unnecessarily scathing critiques just make you look like movie-snobs.
Okay ... so there are some clichés in there. Show me a film that has none. On the plus side, the manner in which Dyer dispatches his victims shows originality, and without being overly gory still had my wife watching through her fingers. Not the prosaic bullet to the head. Moreover, you were made to feel that they deserved it ... stereotypical as they may have been. And as anyone that has ever gotten a speeding ticket for going 3mph above the speed-limit will tell you, there is a distinct feeling that police resources could be better employed in catching the real criminals that seem to have the freedom to ply their trade unencumbered.
The obligatory sex scene was long enough to get the point over without the four minutes of gratuitous nudity (note to Hollywood - with the amount of porn available on the internet these days, even 13 year-old boys no longer find these scenes titillating). The inevitable comparisons to so-called 'classics' like Death Wish are bound to be made (and let's not forget what a cringingly limited actor Bronson was!) but I think this stands up quite well. I was torn between a 6 and a 7 rating for this one. I went with the 8 in an attempt to redress the balance.
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