Brighton Rock

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

Walked in clean to this one, I had seen the trailer a while back but forgotten most of what was in it. A dark gangster caper set in 60's era Brighton.

I really liked this. The main characters are all quite shady and ambiguous. Well, maybe not now that I think about it but certainly the romance is intriguingly dry. That's a strange way of describing it, but they keep things objective until the end.

And it's the end that makes the movie. The middle of the film was fine, everything is kept pretty tense as the lies and paranoia start to spiral out of control but I was wondering where it could lead. The protagonist is such a bad guy, if he gets away with his crimes it would be unsatisfying but if he dies it would be disappointing.

There's a little bit of a deux ex machina but it's set up to be as such, there's a lot of talk of religion throughout and it plays into that. And it's such a cool ending that makes the journey very satisfying indeed.

It's a very cool cast. Sam Riley is the lead and I haven't seen him before except for a small part in Franklyn. He is neat. So is the cinematography. And the hundreds of period motorbikes. Cool film.