One day all this will change ...

This is not normally my cuppa, having seen Lock Stock ... and Snatch and thought them funny but only middling. Yet I loved this film (again for the refreshingly British cast) excellent writing, direction, visuals and soundtrack.

The surreal opening sequence, selling the trite but valid message that only legislation keeps recreational drugs in the hands of criminals and once/if that changes the pharamaceutical companies will become the new dealers, was spellbinding and brilliantly executed. It correctly set the tone for XXXX's assertion that he was simply a businessman, what he sold was merely a product for which there was demand.

And the realism is pretty well observed throughout; the clumsy ineptitude of Duke and his mob and their expectedly short foray into a world much bigger than they, Slasher's coke-fuelled erratics, the worldly wisdom of Morty and Gene and the self-assuredness and arrogance of Eddie Temple, it was a grubby gordian knot of interdepenancies and suspicions.

Although everything can be understood from the first viewing there are some excellent visuals, sounds and performances to enjoy again and again.


8/10