Director: Jonathan Glazer
Running time: 89 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18
Genre: Drama/Crime
UK Release date: 12th January 2001
Watched on Sky+ Friday 29th April 2011.
PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.
Whenever I’m in a conversation about British gangster movies, this one always comes up. Much to my dismay, I haven’t been able comment because, for one reason or another, I kept missing it. This was remedied recently when it finally re-appeared on TV. It’s an interesting film that’s marked by one particularly extraordinary performance and an awful lot of profanity (swearing).
Gary 'Gal' Dove is a retired gangster, he lives in Spain with his wife, Dee Dee. His friend, and ex-colleague, Aitch and wife Jackie live nearby and they barbecue, hunt, eat, drink and generally lie in the sun and have a good time. This is until the day Jackie receives a phone call from Don Logan. Don is a nasty piece of work who has decided he wants Gal to come out of retirement to do one more job. The thing is, Gal is happy with his life and doesn’t want to go back, but Don is on his way to persuade him. Also, an ulterior motive is revealed for Don’s visit that leaves all involved feeling quite uneasy. Now, the heist is being planned by crime boss Teddy Bass and it involves the robbery of a depositary owned by a character known as Harry, but can Gal be persuaded.
There is a really good cast in this one; Ray Winstone plays Gal very well, he has all the attributes to pull off this role with aplomb. Amanda Redman plays Dee Dee, his wife, Cavan Kendall is Aitch and Julianne White is Jackie. Teddy Bass is played by another well known British actor, Ian McShane, as is Harry, who is played by James Fox. But the star accolade must go to Ben Kingsley as Don Logan, I don’t know what he was on, but he pulls of a masterly performance in this one. It’s so different to everything else I’ve seen him in and I loved every minute he was on screen.
I really enjoyed this film, admittedly, the performance of Ben Kingsley has a lot to do with that, but there were also a few rather innovative touches that made the story a bit more interesting that it might have been. So, over all, it’s a pretty well made film with a decent cast, an interesting plot, one stellar performance and an awful lot of swearing… Recommended.
My Score: 7.5/10
LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0203119/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sexy_beast/
Trailer:
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