The Violators (2015) User Reviews (11)

Gritty and Compelling Brit Indie Thriller.

[t-dooley-69-386916 · 7/10 · 11 August 2016]

Shelly lives in the urban overspill of Cheshire in a sink hole estate with her brothers, one who is a bit of a lad and the younger who is confused and in need of some succour in life . Said life is not easy and money is hard to find and the estate where they live can be a cruel place. Then her paths cross with local loan shark and all round nasty type Mikey Finnegan and he is very much taken by the fifteen year old.

She also happens upon Rachel who comes from the other side of the tracks and shows a remarkable interest in the young girl. However everyone seems to have hidden agendas and some, though, are not so well hidden and before long the masks of contrivance slip.

Now this is the directorial debut from Helen Walsh who also wrote this and I think she has made a film that she can very much be proud of. The direction is great the actors all do a commendable job and the camera angles and framed shots show that a lot of thought has gone into this and the results are obvious. This is an off beat story in an unusual part of the country and it manages to be intriguing, compelling, original and very easy to recommend.

The slow moody cliche of depression

[fallyhag · 5/10 · 26 January 2024]

The copy and paste production of yet another damp and depressing drama that sticks religiously to the same old worn out story of poverty and sorrow. The painfully slow pace. The lack of any highlights. The unimaginative dialogue.

The sad fact is that you will sit through this hoping it goes somewhere new and intelligent, just to realise that it has nothing to say. To say the end was an anti-climax would be a huge understatement.

But the two actresses did have something about them. Their casting being the single positive thing. It is just a pity that there was nothing here for them to show off their talents.

So just add this to the big pile of 'indie' disappointments that do nothing but depress the hell out of you. Not recommended.

You gotta be kidding me. Why ?!

[angiris · 4/10 · 12 July 2016]

So I went in hoping to see a different and potentially rough kind of film. What I got was anything but that. The setting and cast at first had me captivated. Looked like this, bleak and rather dark story. Something the other review here mentions as well.

Thing is that the story is a teasing, anti-climax based on its conclusion, and ENTIRE PROGRESSION.

You see this film has us straying insanely from a solid premise of 2 girls, meeting up and and having this intertwined evolution of character development. Looking at the poster as well as reading the description for the film I had a film like Violet & Daisy in mind. Where the focus was specifically set on 2 girls for the most of the time. Which would make for interesting character progression.

But this film is jumping all over the place, it feels rushed and highlights aspects of manipulation, obsessive behavior and desperation.

Which upon its final conclusion of absolutely NOTHING we've seen is what we thought it was (which is so incredibly poorly done, thus leading not to a surprise factor, but an element of grand annoyance instead) has us merely say "meh" or as my review's title states...

This films premise is solid. If it had been executed better I would have believed it to be a solid 6 maybe a 7 out of 10. Which to me is a Good / Great film. But due to these decisions and writing that makes me upset and annoyed because of the terrible cliché actions not to mention the thing that probably annoyed me the most; The overly exaggerated use of sexual objectification with the many, corny and cringe-worthy camera fixated moments where we are suddenly zoomed in entirely on our lead actress's behind or otherwise. It is embarrassing how often this is used, and its meaningfulness that the first review here apparently finds to be a way to show how shes seen for naught but her body (Which is very untrue and a drastic conclusion btw because shes only sexually objectified by the protagonist in this film, where as others seem nice) .

What I was waiting for was the camera angle shifting to a zoom on the other peoples eyes, thus giving us an idea that "THEY are looking and wanting her". Thing is this NEVER HAPPENS. NOT ONCE. Therefor we got but what seems like the camera man ignoring seemingly everything in the film when he gets a chance to look at what he REALLY wants to look at.

Its so distasteful and annoying because of how many times it occurs. Literally has you cringe every time because its SO out of place and feeling like the film is afraid of what it has to offer, thus relying on captivating the attention of the viewers by turning to this level. Something Im sure isn't true, but when directed this way, when edited this way... that's the impression you get and it kills replay-value as well as your initial reaction to experiencing it. Its a damn shame.

Aside from its poor focus, which could have been fixed had they given more camera time to the 2 girls and how they would interact, the ending is what really has you leaving with a sore taste in your mouth. And it will also reveal why it is the focus is not more on the 2 girls together.

Its sporadically. Thats never a good way to make a film. It has your audience getting confused which is only forgivable if the ending summarizes things in a good way. This is where it fails to me.

We discover 1 of the girls is the father of the manipulative, lying male character who is using our main character for own personal gain. Something that is massively unsatisfying and dumb considering the obsessive nature of this now seemingly crazy and depressed girl who literally tries to kill herself in the end, prior to wanting to kill him.

So we got a daughter who got left, thus freaking out. I can understand that. Problem is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO little makes actual sense...in that regard. If you really analyze this, you can see a connection through out this films many scenes. But the initial impression has you thinking we got a girl, competing with a guy, due to a potential love interest. Or a solid friendship. Girls against guys. Something along those guys due to the sceptical attitude towards men in this flick from time to time.

But it shifts from that and that's where it falls flat for me, especially when it ultimately concludes in all surviving, nothing changes except the lead character asumingly gets to be free. Again, we don't know.

And it just ends like that. Its massively unenjoyable considering what I think could otherwise have been an interesting story.

I see potential, but its executed poorly in my opinion, and the writing is actually obnoxious. Thats my subjective feel of this. There are many ways this could have unfolded. But this here is by far the worst because you take away NOTHING from the film. Except potential depression. Just because you turn it all upside down, compared to first impression of two girls against the world factor, doesn't mean it's enjoyable. Wasn't for me. Feels like a wasted opportunity for a better movie in my subjective opinion. Why conclude the the collision of these two girls so anti everything the initial impression your movie grants us in its character development. Artistic vision? Sometimes that works. Not this time around. Just insanely anti-climatic.

Bleak, beautiful and touching.

[greenymod · 8/10 · 20 June 2016]

Bleak, northern and touching, Helen Walsh's directorial debut works because it's a story of making do when the odds are stacked against you. Shelly, played superbly by Lauren McQueen is objectified sexually by the characters and the camera, and it really works as we know that everyone is after exploiting her.The cast of this film are all excellent, Brogan Ellis, Liam Ainsworth, Stephen Lord and the supporting cast all deliver in an understated way. It's a slow burner, but paced just right as it steers us towards a taught climax. The acting is naturalistic and believable. The younger cast members, in my opinion are all going to go onto great things and their performances in this lovely film are handled well by the director.

Lyrical, harsh & uplifting debut from a rising star of cinema

[kevsampson · 10/10 · 30 September 2016]

I was fascinated to see how Helen Walsh would navigate the transition from novelist to auteur, and was not surprised by the poetic and lyrical film she has created. Make no mistake, The Violators is raw; its subject matter, its (very) young and precociously talented cast, its desolate locations and its sometimes intrusive, sometimes unsettling, always arresting hand-held shooting style is all rough, brutal and right in your face (much like Walsh's novels.) Yet, just as in novels like Brass and Once Upon A Time In England, Walsh finds the humanity amid the horror; she finds the beauty in everyday, ugly tableaux. The crude story of The Violators sees Shelly, the young, unwittingly beautiful head of a dysfunctional family having to use all her street wiles and nous to keep her little step- brother safe from their soon-to-be-released father - an abusive monster. In planning a safe haven, Shelly falls under the sinister gaze of two more predators - one of them not much older than herself. She has to think on her feet and try to work out who - if anyone - can be trusted on their godforsaken estate; yet there are moments of purity and childlike innocence amid all the squalor and hardship. If you have read Helen Walsh's novels you'll know that she doesn't pull any punches. Yet The Violators is visually stunning and unexpectedly beautiful, too, with its streaky pink skies and silver dockland vistas. Walsh has coaxed definitive performances from future stars Lauren McQueen, Callum King Chadwick and Brogan Ellis and, along with writer/directors like Clio Barnard and Carol Morley is surely a rising star herself. Another Northern Classic!

'The Violators' is mirror-bright, uncommonly vital independent cinema.

[Weirdling_Wolf · 9/10 · 9 December 2021]

The auspicious film-making debut by terrifically talented writer/director Helen Walsh proved to be a remarkably assured affair, one of the more striking aspects of Walsh's remarkably dynamic indie feature is the searing authenticity of the performances from a gifted cast of largely unknown actors, their unfamiliarity a considerable blessing, adding a stark verisimilitude to 'The Violators' kitchen sink milieu, an unflinchingly bleak, heartfelt, energetically told tale of the not-so-quiet desperation of broken lives on a greatly deprived sinkhole estate in one of the more demonstratively rundown suburbs of Cheshire. Helen Walsh's surgical dissection of the devastating existential malaise fulminating within a decayed North England suburb is a witheringly earnest, frequently raw, emotionally complex, laudably unsentimental portrayal of damaged pretty teenager Shelly (Lauren McQueen), her increasingly fractured young life cruelly degraded by a grossly abusive father, this remarkably durable teenager's unlovely, unnurtured penurious half-life being a ceaselessly dispiriting descent into paltry, repetitive acts of petty theft, listless drug-taking, terminal truancy, and a profoundly isolating sense of disenfranchisement, Shelly's sole, tenuous grip on humanity being the love she feels for her younger, sweet-natured, BMX-riding brother Jerome (Callum King Chadwick), and her fractious friendship with the handsome, seemingly inviolable Soldier-boy-next-door Kieran (Liam Ainsworth). After an apparently random encounter with the eminently enigmatic middle-class misfit Rachel (Brogan Ellis) these two disparate, dysfunctional young lives become fatefully intertwined, the eerily beautiful Rachel forcefully acting as the singularly strange catalyst for a series of shocking, startlingly dramatic events that grievously culminate in a genuinely fascinating, emotionally engaging climax. 'The Violators' is mirror-bright, uncommonly vital independent cinema, with endearingly authentic performances, constrictor taut plotting, and an empathic director who clearly has a sympathy for the desperate plight of her all too real protagonists.

A real movie dealing with real issues

[elyonai · 10/10 · 6 June 2017]

This movie is not for the faint-hearted, it's for film enthusiasts. If you watch movies for escapism, don't watch this movie, because it hits home, more than you initially think.

The performances leave you thinking that these truly are these characters, and the film is simply a documentary of events. What you read in the description is exactly what you get, without any sugar coating and throwing its audience in the deep end of some real, intense issues that face society: namely male dominance and our inability to control & the issue of an unstable family unit.

The first issue is prominent throughout, using cinematography to illustrate dominance and develop an overwhelming sense of discomfort for the audience, in short: we see a man on the screen, and he's bad news, that's how good this film is. It sets up every male as a mean machine and it keeps the audience on edge. The audience can indulge 5 minutes into the film and the connotations of sexual tension practically become denotations.

The other theme of family is both prominent and all too real for an ever-changing, developing society where ideology changes on what's acceptable and what's not. What this film gives to its audience is a reminder of what actually matters, and that's family. For Shelly and Jerome and Andy, that's not present, and these characters are scarred by it. Throughout, Shelly is trying to dump a mother-like relationship with Rachel, and a father-like relationship with Mickey.

I don't want to spoil the film wholly because the twists and turns of this film are carefully constructed so that the audience is left in disbelief and shakes its hands in frustration. Watching this film late at night changes the atmosphere of the viewing experience to a whole other level to the point that if you watched it at any other time than midnight, you'd be robbing yourself of an intense, personal, emotional experience.

After studying Film, I expected this film to be another cheap, 'Netflix own' crap film when to my amazement, I was pleasantly surprised by the array of emotions this film evoked.

For anyone cynical over film, give this one a chance, like I did. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Thank me later...

A British story crafted on film

[rj_sawyer · 8/10 · 21 October 2017]

Another reviewer has captured exactly why The Violators is worth viewing with the comment it is "for lovers of film". This is brilliant story telling brought together by the sounds and movement of film. There are twists and turns, delicate moments, subtleties by the film maker all of which which require your full attention. I was glad to be confused. It encouraged me to absorb all the elements of the film - characters, dialogue, set, locations, and the broader social issues being presented. Very glad to have watched the film. The cast deliver the story superbly, it is wonderful acting, they are authentic. Important to note the setting in and around Liverpool and Merseyside is crucial, it brings with it an authenticity. Refreshingly far from typical London centric of so many films. The Violators is modern British story telling delivered by the medium of film.

A great watch

[tarkanasena · 10/10 · 16 January 2019]

A compelling, gritty drama. Visuals are great and the acting is superb!

British grit at it's best.

[rachaellee-54755 · 10/10 · 1 May 2018]

Sometimes hard to watch but also a must see. Addressing real issues happening right now. Great acting too.

Don't care about the characters

[Gordon-11 · 22 August 2021]

Characters are not adequately explained in this film. Though the plot summary says it's about two girls, but it really is just about one girl. I can't find many reasons to care about her story, unfortunately.