I wasn't even watching that closely but it seems like I'm the only one reviewing who realised it wasn't just about the pigeons? They literally admitted to terrorising the guy as kids, then the last straw was murdering all his pigeons (and from the look of the burns on Grady's face, he was in the fire too).
Now, as others have said, the characters are absolutely not likeable. Lloyd maybe gets a little pass because it seems like he's maturing. And poor Col. But honestly, that kinda works to the film's advantage. When it's the nice kids getting murdered, people have sympathy. But what if it's the bad kids? This could have been a huge moral tale, delving into the backstories of these kids and pointing out how the system is so broken it shaped them into these little terrors. But it doesn't. We get barely any backstory at all, we know they lived in the tower block, we know Grady was the caretaker. We don't know why the building is now derelict, we don't know why Grady stayed. But we don't need to know.
The ending is set out from the start, no surprises with the false accusation. If you want a happy ending, pretend that Grady gets caught in the process of trying to kill Jemma and her newborn, exonerating Lloyd and allowing them to live happily ever after. But the ambiguity works for me.
The deaths were gruesome enough. The characters at least try to escape and find every attempt thwarted. It's not like you spend the whole movie yelling at the screen because they're doing something stupid.
All in all, I liked the movie. Maybe it's a basic premise but I thought it was well-crafted, and since I live in an area surrounded by chavs... well, it wasn't far-fetched.
Now, as others have said, the characters are absolutely not likeable. Lloyd maybe gets a little pass because it seems like he's maturing. And poor Col. But honestly, that kinda works to the film's advantage. When it's the nice kids getting murdered, people have sympathy. But what if it's the bad kids? This could have been a huge moral tale, delving into the backstories of these kids and pointing out how the system is so broken it shaped them into these little terrors. But it doesn't. We get barely any backstory at all, we know they lived in the tower block, we know Grady was the caretaker. We don't know why the building is now derelict, we don't know why Grady stayed. But we don't need to know.
The ending is set out from the start, no surprises with the false accusation. If you want a happy ending, pretend that Grady gets caught in the process of trying to kill Jemma and her newborn, exonerating Lloyd and allowing them to live happily ever after. But the ambiguity works for me.
The deaths were gruesome enough. The characters at least try to escape and find every attempt thwarted. It's not like you spend the whole movie yelling at the screen because they're doing something stupid.
All in all, I liked the movie. Maybe it's a basic premise but I thought it was well-crafted, and since I live in an area surrounded by chavs... well, it wasn't far-fetched.