scotts_other

25 May 2012

Bringing it back for Britain

This film is the next action film in the line of Jason Statham'ssuccessful career. It is a no nonsense British cop action film withenough story line and plenty of in your face action to keep youinterested and wondering what is next around the corner. Jason Stathamhas already reached world class status and now he is bringing it backfor Britain. He is good at what he does and he does it in this filmwell - although I liked much of what he had done before, I didn'treally care that he was in any particular film. My opinion has nowchanged as he reliably delivers action and character in bucket fullswhich is good for an actor from the UK.The film does have a particular feel as it is British made but thisfits the film well and enhances the gritty feel.If you want action, British made and varied, interesting charactersthen this is for you. If you want Hollywood, white teeth andunbelievable characters then see something else.

24 May 2012

Revenge flick with an old school feel

Blitz was a very entertaining film and had an old school feel to it very much like an old Charles Bronson revenge flick but with a fresh take.Jason Statham plays 'Brant' a bad a** cop with not many if any limits when executing justice and he teams up with Paddy Considine 'Nash' who is a gay cop who has somewhat of a sordid past.The two get on well together after the gay ice is broken.They of course have to throw in a couple of cracks about Nash's sexuality such as phoofer and pillow biter.Once the ice is broken and trust established between Nash and Brant the gay thing doesn't come back up and he's treated as he should be ,a good cop,thankfully.They are on the trail of a brutal cop killer and there are a few surprises thrown in along the way.I really liked it and thought the ensemble cast was excellent.The villain is a particularly dislikeable character and you will be glad you're on the hunt 'via this movie' with the detectives. Somewhat your typical Statham fare but much more interesting than some. two thumbs up.

thekarmicnomad

23 May 2012

Very Statham

This is really quite an old fashioned style 'maverick cop' movie.Statham plays the detective who bends all the rules but gets results.He pretty much beats and one lines his way through what is essentiallya very simple plot. But it all works well the action is hard and fastand the characters are quirky if a little stereo typical.It is set in the South East of London but isn't overly gritty like mostfilms set in the UK are.It doesn't quite have the whit and style of Lock Stock but doesn't makeyou scared to leave the hosue like Harry Brown.Very enjoyable but don't take it too seriously.

CJS

23 May 2012

An enjoyable British crime drama

This is not an action movie - it more of a thriller/drama with somerealistic and believable action (fighting, foot chases, etc). There isno kung fu, no CGI, no explosions, no car chases, and no Americanaccents (its a British movie). I'm not sure why so many of the reviewers hate this movie. Both myselfand my girlfriend liked it. As I had not seen the trailer for thismovie, I was expecting an over-the-top action movie as Jason Statham isthe lead actor. Instead we got a "gritty" British crime drama about aserial killer who has a grudge against the police. Overall it was enjoyable. Not perfect - not even great - but prettygood.

PhilidorPriestman

22 May 2012

Competent police thriller, set in London, with some nice cinematography

I fancied seeing a film on the way home from work today. When I arrivedat the cinema this was the next film on. I went in cold, knowingnothing. Funky title sequence, OK. Opening scene with Statham asleep on a couch– OK, so its one of those Jason Statham films, fine I can go with that;Hollywood action film with a perfectly watchable lead, nothing toochallenging, just what I need to unwind after a hard day at the office.It was at this point that the old memory cells started working and Iremembered that I had read something about the film. Oh no, isn't thisa British film, set in London? Yes it is. Oh dear. I don't want gritty,low budget, realism, I don't want east end gangsters, mockney accentsand all too earnest attempts to be cool.I was pleasantly surprised to find my fears unfounded. This is reallyquite a good film.Someone is killing London police officers, Statham, a cop who doesn'tplay by the rules (is their any other kind?) is out to get him.Statham does his Statham thing, and does it very well. The man is noBrando, but this is a very creditable performance. He is believable ashis character, he does quietly menacing, he does humorous, There isalso a fair bit of charm in his interactions with his boss. There are afew scenes where he enlists the help of a WPC (very well played smallpart – sorry can't remember the actor) to check computer records. Ithought that the interaction between the two was very good and causedme to wish that we would see Statham in a more relationship baseddrama, rather than his standard action fare.Aiden Gillen is very good as the deranged killer. He is obviously "notin his right mind" but Gillen's subtle performance and the breadth ofemotions and he hints at keep him well clear of a pantomime "Psycho".Paddy Considine is fine as Stratam's superior. Interesting to see theinclusion of this homosexual character where his sexuality has nothingin particular to do with the plot; he isn't a victim, there is nomincing, no angst he is just a straight (as it were) gay man. Very,very few incidentally gay people on the big screen.Zawa Ashton was perfectly OK as a cop who became an addict while undercover for the drug squad. David Morrisey doesn't have much to do as thenewspaper reporter whom the killer contacts to publicise hisactivities.What surprised me about the film was how good it looked. Thecinematography is excellent; nothing flashy, but at times quitebeautiful. I have never seen London look so good on film. The fact thatwe were kept away from the usual tourist spots helped; no establishingshot here, sweeping up the Thames, taking in the London Eye, the Housesof parliament etc. No red London Buses (do they still have them?).Also, there was also no attempt to make the place look like Americawith aerial shots of skyscrapers etc. At the same time the film makersdidn't go to the other extreme and have Albert Square, litter and kebabshops.The action in the film is pretty low key in terms of spectacle, nothingblows up, nobody takes their shirt off. The violence is real ratherthan comic book stuff. For me, it comes across as real, rather thanaffected "gritty reality". (Now there's an oxymoron for you)Now, I am not saying that this is a great film. It is an entertainingenough thriller, decently acting, with some very nice cinematography. Idon't imagine that it will will a lot of awards. But, it does the heartgood to see a half decent British film, that isn't trying to beAmerican or (defensively) trying too hard to be British. We could dowith a lot more.

David Hughes

22 May 2012

A rough-cut crime thriller that sees Jason Statham back on familiar turf and doing what he does best.

Cath Clarke

22 May 2012

Who knows, we might be looking at the evolution of the guilty-pleasure movie - padded out with top-drawer talent to spare audience blushes.

FlashCallahan

21 May 2012

I gave you my crisps.........

Detective Sergeant Tom Brant who is dispatched to take down a serialkiller hell bent on killing off the police force one by one."The Blitz" manages to slip through the grasp of Tom every time, andwith the precious lives of his colleagues diminishing one by one, Tomis led to one question.If we can't protect our own, then what good are we......A step down in the action for Statham, here he and the makers are goingfor the 'Prime Suspect'/'Cracker' take on of the police movie, withvery mixed results.on one hand, it's an okay insight into the criminal and their celebstatus once they have committed the crime. On the other, it's yourbasic good cop/bad cop thriller, with a psychotic bad guy with no realmotive, who does strange things after each crime ala every Chuck Norrisfilm in the eighties, and Badhams back catalogue.saying that, it has a gritty feel to it, and Statham is backed up withsome solid support from Considine, Gillen, and Morrisey.Every cliché is hit in the film though, down on luck informant, policeperson who has an addiction, and male bonding.Sometimes the dialogue is a bit cringe worthy, but thanks to theperformances, the film just about pulls it off.If you are expecting Crank, death race, or The Transporter, stay away.if you like your Sunday evening crime dramas on ITV, but with a bitmore swearing, than this will suffice.

20 May 2012

Absolutely horrible.

I was so dissapointed of this movie because i am a huge fan of jason , it was so boring that i decided to read a book instead. I dont get all the great reviews, but then again you are entitled to your opinion. I gave this a negative 1.

One_slice_of_pizza

20 May 2012

That Wasnt Statham Now, Was He?

Create the most absurd story line, make the protagonist jump from oneimpossible problem to another, and put Jason Statham in front of thecamera and there you go, you have a blockbuster action movie.Unbelievably, this time we have a movie with a plain, dull, boringstory line with no twists, no outstanding action scenes, no impressivefighting choreography whatsoever. Some guy jumping from one building toanother, is not Statham! Even a trained monkey can do that. Stathamconfronts with 15 bad guys and beats their back parts without a drop ofsweat and walks away as if nothing happened.Unfortunately, this time Statham plays a very boring police officer whodoes nothing but drink, smoke and drive around the city. Obviously theproducers just wanted to use his name for a quick cash in and theaudience took the bait.All of the characters are two dimensional, the story line doesn't goanywhere and there's no suspense during the entire movie. Because weknow the killer right from the beginning (they know him too) and whilehe is on the loose, they try to gather enough evidence to put himbehind bars, that's it.If you are expecting a climactic story line with Statham beating uptens of bad guys, exploding cars and buildings then stay miles awayfrom this movie. The script is a pile of mess and while it tries totell a few stories, it just ends up telling us nothing but a boring,uninteresting story with characters we don't care.Don't let the casting fool you. If you are craving for the realStatham, just fire up one of his old movies instead. You will be gladyou did.4/10

Greenzombidog

19 May 2012

Good but not great.

A cop killing crim is giving the police the run around in old Londontown.Blitz is a good movie that finally comes to life about 20 to 30 minutesin when we finally get to the main story. Once the chase is on with theodd couple partnership of tough rule breaking Tom Brant (Jason Statham)and gay straight laced Porter Nash (Paddy Considine) pursuing the copkilling criminal who's hungry for notoriety the Blitz (Aiden Gillen)the movie comes into it's stride. Before that we're inundated with somany characters it's a little confusing. What makes matters worse isthat none of these side characters stories are ever really finished andthe time wasted on them could have been spent giving a little morescreen time to Porter Nash who is sadly underused.Don't get me wrong though I enjoyed the film. Aiden Gillen is abrilliant bad guy, giving his character a Johnny Rotten swagger. I feltmyself enjoying hating the Blitz and couldn't wait to see him get hisjust deserts but we could have done with getting a little more insightinto his behaviour. Statham does a good job showing a little weaknessnow and then in his usually gruff demeanour. As I have already saidPaddy Considine is great but not in it enough for my liking. Londonlooks great and there is an exciting chase through the streets which isone of the high points of the movie.I enjoyed the movie and would happily watch it again. It's biggestfault was trying to juggle too many story lines at once andunfortunately it dropped a couple of balls.

Claudio Carvalho

19 May 2012

Great Police Story

In London, the violent Detective Sergeant Tom Brant (Jason Statham) isin trouble with the press and his superiors request low profileattitude to him. When a cop killer called Blitz (Aidan Gillen) attackspolice officers in London, Brant is assigned to the manhunt with hischief, the gay cop Porter Nash (Paddy Considine). His investigationshows that the criminal is the hoodlum Barry Weiss, but the police cannot find any evidence against Barry. When he is released from jail byhis lawyer, Brant and Nash put Barry under surveillance expecting a newattack of the Blitz."Blitz" is a great police story for fans like me of Dirty Harry or PaulKersey, from "Death Wish", and Jason Statham. The story has clichés,the conclusion is very similar to "10 to Midnight", but the plot isengaging and full of action. Aidan Gillen performs one of the nastiestvillains I have recently seen with his cynical smile and this actor hasa great resemblance with Gary Oldman. The idea of a gay policeinspector is original in times of politically correct. My vote isseven.Title (Brazil): "Blitz"

Trevor Johnston

18 May 2012

Statham gives a good account of himself as the no-nonsense Detective Brant, handy with his fists and ready with a wry one-liner, but an unoriginal plot and a general lack of excitement don't do justice to either him or the high-calibre supporting cast.

specialbobby

18 May 2012

Trailer looked OK, but what a load of crap.

Don't bother with this film even if you do like Statham, saw itthinking "oh good, the big mans doing a British crime movie for achange", last time round he done the nice surprise that was 'The bankJob'. Unfortunately we get 90mins of clichéd characters, allunderwritten going from bleak scene of violence to bleak scene ofviolence looking like their trying to solve why their in this movie,Paddy Considine guilty as charged, Aiden Gillen your a good actor sowhat was this about and Statham, mate you looked so bored in this noteven a shot of adrenaline could have cranked you up a notch. If youwant bleak inner city London and some action watch Toby Kebbell in TheVeteran instead, a better film with more to say and leave this alone, achronic waste of time with a scene of violence that compared to asimilar scene in American History X is neither shocking or impressive,just nasty and unoriginal. Statham mate start finding some better material or the ride will beover sooner than you think.

krs_sn

17 May 2012

guy flick

Jason statham as a gritty grumpy bad ass cop who bends the rules toserve justice.Does this sound good to you? well it did to me so Ipitched up for the movie. Statham does a very convincing job as thepolice officer,he carries on in serious earnest throughout and thereare many laugh out loud moments in the movie. The supporting cast isalso good, there are a few typical queer British characters thrown inwhich enhance the believability of the story. There aren't hard grittyaction scnenes,special effects are minimal/none. But the macho factorand testosterone factor are high. And one last thing Zawe Ashton issmoking hot, phew!

mike-2675

17 May 2012

Discovering Dirty Harry?

Had to check the other reviews first, and I'll give reviewer poc-1credit for mentioning Dirty Harry first - but that's what independentlycame to my mind after watching this film.The bad guy here is frustrating conventional jurisprudence, so the itchfor an extra-judicial beat-down animates the film, and Statham's fineperformance.Not a bad pedigree to compare to, but Eastwood's rogue cop emerged backin the seventies! But there must be sociological clues to this.(Good) American crime films have moved on, as this sort of payoff isnow a cheap one, as the mythological bad guys of Hollywood aren'timpressed by cops who "go bad" any longer. I hate to characterizetinsel-town police as more sophisticated, but watching this UK operamakes me wonder.A good crime film *humiliates* the criminal (or the opposite if you'regoing for a "Silence Of The Lambs" super-criminal vibe,) and thewide-eyed "shock" of the anti-hero, at the climax, in "Blitz" justdidn't cut it. With all of his preening, one gets the sense that asimple legal conviction would have hurt more than a bullet from a copthat he clearly baited.After all of the great UK crime dramas I have seen, this derivativeanachronism came up short for me.

thinker1691

17 May 2012

I have a memory of the Past, but its all black . . . . . . like my future

If you get a chance to read the novel written by Ken Bruen upon whichthis movie " Blitz " is based on, you will miss quite a lot in thetransition. Even though the movie is graphic, the book is more so. Inaddition, the main character Detective Sergeant Tom Brant (JasonStatham) is definitely more violate and his partner DI Craig Stokes(Luke Evans) is revealed to be more incisive and meticulous. Indeed,the suspect called 'The Blitz' (Aidan Gillen) reads more intelligent,clever and evasive. Having read the book and seen the movie, I will saythat both are dark and similar to the point of eeriness and memorable.The movie is a black insightful look into the mind of a serial killerand with Statham chasing him through the streets of London, far moreexciting. The story is fraught with loose ends and indeed some are notresolved. Still, it is a good attempt of keeping the audienceinterested. Since Jason Statham is the leading man the finished productcan be said to be dramatic enough to be recommended. ****

seany_c

16 May 2012

Passes The Time

As fans of Jason Statham me and my girl saw this yesterday. I'm usuallya fan of his over-the-top action films like 'The Transporter's', 'Crank1 & 2' and 'The Mechanic'. I was surprised to see that this wassomething a little different from him. Well, a little different. JasonStatham is basically playing Jason Statham which is always good towatch in my opinion but here the film is played as a more grittier,realistic affair with lashings of violence and the occasional funnymoment. Paddy Considine does well as the gay copper who teams up withStatham to try and napture a nutty killer who's targeting cops. Givingthe films standout performance, Aidan Gillen plays the killer and istotally convincing in the role. It's not mind-blowing stuff but it'senjoyable and Statham fans will lap it up. ***/*****

15 May 2012

Terrible Movie!!!

This review is from: Blitz (includes Digital Copy) (DVD) All I can say is this movie stinks. Statham must need money to star in this gross movie. I will research any movie Statham is in from now on. Please don't buy this movie unless you are a 1 star movie fan

Philip French

15 May 2012

It is an unedifying film, slickly directed and photographed, but lacking conviction and much inferior to the police procedurals you can see any night on television.