Tag Archive | Plan B

The Sweeney reboot is a celluloid slag

In the 1970s, Ian Kennedy Martin’s “The Sweeney” was a ground-breaking British television drama that exposed the rough underbelly of the Metropolitan police force- one which had previously been ignored by the media.  Now, over 30 years later, police brutality and corruption seems rather passé; countless TV programmes and films have explored the dark side of law enforcement.   So what can the big screen reboot of the iconic British coppers, The Sweeney, offer in the year 2012?  With writer/director Nick Love playing a poor man’s Michael Mann, the answer is: not much at all.

As Ray Winstone steps into John Thaw’s shoes as the leader of the flying squad, Jack Regan, some artistic license has been taken in modernising the character.  Regan’s drinking has been swapped for a more serious level of corruption: theft.  Yes, in a move that seriously alters the complexion of Regan’s character, Winstone’s hard-nosed cop isn’t averse to nicking the loot after nicking the baddie.  Meanwhile, Ben Drew gives George Carter a chav-tastic street makeover.  If anyone was ever going to point out to Mr Plan B that it would be acting to not play Carter in such a manner, it certainly wasn’t going to be Love.  Hayley Atwell joins the action as a fellow member of the unit, who, entirely unbelievably, is servicing Regan’s member on the side.  Her character also happens to be married to the internal affairs agent (Steven Mackintosh) investigating The Sweeney’s questionable tactics.  No conflict of interest there, then.  Blissfully ignoring the threat facing the unit, Winstone and Co ferociously hunt down a pack of jewellery store thieves who have executed a seemingly innocent civilian.  Not that any of this seems to truly matter, but a film does, technically, need a plot, after all. Read More…

The prognosis is negative for Ill Manors

Ill Manors, the brain-child of musician Ben Drew (aka Plan B, here wearing his writer/director hat), is quickly described as “where dark shit goes on at night”.  Indeed, the tone gets no lighter as the gang drama set in eastLondon’s Forest Gate unfolds in the midst of copious amounts of profanity, drug use and sexual abuse.  Drew’s debut may be many things, but a date movie it most certainly is not.

The film wastes no time in getting down and gritty with time-lapse photography being used to illustrate the daily routines of junkies and dealers.  A variety of characters are introduced, the film often breaking to tell their backstories via rap as the lyrics are dramatised onscreen.  This is not altogether a bad idea, even if the verses fly a bit too quickly for some of the less “street” amongst the viewers, but the use of it in Ill Manors is inconsistent, as the style occurs a few times early on but then disappears before resurfacing in the final act.  If there’s anything that defines Drew’s film, it’s the unevenness that is as plentiful as the expletives.  As a writer, Drew may have had a lot of good ideas as to where to take the story, but what he has yet to learn is that he doesn’t need to try to shoe-horn them all into one work.  It’s this rookie mistake that eventually brings down Ill Manors after a strong start.
Read More…