OK folks this is one Father Geek is really looking forward to. After LS&2SB followed up by the LIMEY I've really got a taste for tough crime drama with a British accent and this one looks hard as nails, but lets take a look at it through the eyes of a couple of our Euro-AICN operatives...
By the way if you hate any spoilers at all, even little ones, you might ought to stop reading now!
Hi people... Edgard here... Yesterday Dumb & Dumber were at the premiere of GANGSTER N°1, a new... gangster (surprise !) film from UK. After the success of LOCK, STOCK... and before SNATCH, it seems that British cinema is more than ever present on the "crime scene"... here of course it does not sound as a funny movie as the other ones. As it was said in one of our Euro AICN News : "It is a serious hard core gangster film, more in the vein of The Long Good Friday and Get Carter...". Can't wait to see it... So let's hear now from Dumb & Dumber (beware, no heavy spoilers, but a lot of the "basic" story is told). Meanwhile if you're curious about this film, check Right Here for all the dope.
Hi people... Edgard here... Yesterday Dumb & Dumber were at the premiere of GANGSTER N°1, a new... gangster (surprise !) film from UK. After the success of LOCK, STOCK... and before SNATCH, it seems that British cinema is more than ever present on the "crime scene"... here of course it does not sound as a funny movie as the other ones. As it was said in one of our Euro AICN News : "It is a serious hard core gangster film, more in the vein of The Long Good Friday and Get Carter...". Can't wait to see it... So let's hear now from Dumb & Dumber (beware, no heavy spoilers, but a lot of the "basic" story is told). Meanwhile if you're curious about this film, check Right Here for all the dope.
The movie starts out today, where we see all the hardcore gangsters sitting around a table enjoying their 1000 pound champagne and talking about the old days. Suddenly one of the gangsters says that Freddy Mays(Thewlis) will get out of prison this week, and our main character, the no named gangster (Malcolm McDowell) leaves the room, and the setting flashes back to 1968 where it all started. Our friend (now played by the young Paul Bettany) is being head hunted to one of the two big gangs in the City. From the beginning we sense his fascination for the gangleader Freddy Mays. He comments on his clothes, the way he acts, the way he talks - he adores him. Throughout the movie he tries to reflect him in everything, he almost becomes his shadow, but slowly he starts to envy him, because after all there can only be one "number one". So he gets rid of him in a very smart way, and from this point of, and up till today, there's nothing which can stand in his way in his crazed out bloodhunt of becomming number one. As he puts it him self, several times in the movie. "I'm superman, i'm King motherfucking Kong!". Now today when Freddy gets out of prison ,he feels threatened, and he wants to see him, so they meet up in Freddy's old apartement, which Mc dowell now has taken over, and which hasn't changed a bit, and our main character tries to tell him down, but Freddy seems to ignore him. The years in prison has learnt him that the life he lived before was empty, and the only thing which meant something was the love for his at that time engaged girlfriend Karen(Saffron Burrows) - As he puts it himself, which probably is the most depressing sentence in the whole movie. -" I'm just an old man in a cheap suit."
This was the summary, so that you can get a picture of the action, and here is a bit about the movie. "Gangster No 1" is a wonderful psychological portrait of the insane lifestyle of these men.
The movie is different from the other British gangster movies on the market right now. It is not only entertainment for the eyes. It has got a deaper message. It is actually a rather existential movie, which deals with these men eager to find a meaning in life throughout their outraged bloodhunger of becoming number one. It is an amazing performance from the debut director Paul McGuigan.
The young Gangster Paul Bettany also has his debut with this movie, and is definetely a man you'll have to be aware of on the market in the future.. His older self Malcolm McDowell gives an amazing performance as well with his mean cockney voiceover throughout the movie, and his psyched up behaviour as we saw it in "A Clockwork Orange."
It's a fantastic movie. Watch it. Five Stars out of Five.
Dumb & Dumber
