Own the rights?
19 out of 24 people found the following review useful: "Full Monty turns gangster!", 3 May 2006 Author: Graham Watson from Gibraltar
That might sound FACEtious however, to some extent Carlyle plays a similar sort of character who is unable to hold down a regular job. (Carlyle always has a look of total anxiety, as if he just opened up a tax audit it from the Inland Revenue). He is believable as Ray a gun welding crook , not a phyco path, but a former lefty who got fed up supporting fringe left-wing causes with nothing to show for it. He decides to earn a living the old fashioned way — 'by stealing it'! Ray struggles to balance a relationship with his mother, girlfriend as well as being troubled by his conscience about what he does. He does not particularly enjoy doing what he does and often wonders if it's worth it baring in mind he has done time in prison.It has the typical big robbery near the beginning where they have just two minutes to get in and out of the security complex, the obligatory 'have a go hero' guard who gets pistol whipped and then the escape. Much to the despair of the gang although they get a reasonable amount of cash by the time they take out expenses and split it 5 ways there not a lot to show for it. Was their poultry whack worth the risk for a 15 year stretch? To make matters worse and more complicated the tables are turned when the money is actually stolen from the gang, presumably by somebody who knows the routine and the gangs movements. Everybody suspects everybody else and Ray desperately tries to hold the gang together despite finger pointing, blame as well as trying to evade the police who are on to them. The next part of the film unfolds around betrayal, double crossing, desperation, evading capture and greed.The cast is good, Ray Winston does his usual, Damien Albarn tries to look tough, the weaselly nutter played by Philip Davis is entertaining and Steve Waddington plays a heavy that loves comics and is totally dependent on Ray for guidance . It's also good to see British veteran character Peter Vaughan no stranger to playing a crook , plus longtime downtrodden Brookside housewife Sue Johnson still rallying to left wing cause as Rays weary but devoted mum.Apart from the robbery there is a couple of big shoot outs, tension, a mystery, treachery and a couple of odd twists which keep up your interest. The conclusion of the movie is probably well balanced in the end most of the unlikable characters get what's coming to them! Despite possible flaws the cast certainly hold the movie together and it's well worth a watch!(Note: the greasy Irish junkie at the beginning was played by none other Gerry Conlon former Guildford bombing suspect whose conviction was quashed a number of years ago.)
10 out of 16 people found the following review useful: Didn't get the attention it deserved, 8 June 1999 Author: Umberto Filo from Norway
This excellent movie was an undeserved flop on release. It's hard to understand why, since it has quite a broad appeal, with a likeable cast, some terrific action sequences and a plot which twists and turns until the final reel. It's also, like The Long Good Friday, a movie with serious political undertones. Rent it, see it, make some noise about it, so that this film isn't forgotten, because I look forward to the day it gets the attention it deserves.
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful: One of the all time British greats!, 5 March 2008 Author: nowanuno from Ireland
This is one of the best British Gangster movies of all time! Sadly overlooked. Robert Carlyle is brilliant and authentic in his delivery as a gang leader with a conscience. Like 'Clockers' this is a movie that makes you think. This is not just a gangster/robbery movie. It looks into the lives of each character and their interaction with society and each other. It looks at trust and conscience. The dialog is the best I have heard in this sort of movie and very real. Brilliant performances from all! Great story and ending. Why this was not promoted properly at the time I don't know. Its better than the middle class made Lock Stock, and on a par with The Long Good Friday. Watch and enjoy.
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Seen it before, but still worth the visit, 21 April 2007 Author: droningon from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
The basic plot is a familiar one: a group of hoodlum misfits who form a chaotic "band of brothers" with an unspoken code of gangster ethics. After following a marginally successful heist, the plot starts dissecting the relationships, and the code starts breaking down until the eventual conclusion. There are scenes of each key members' familial relationships, which helps round out the characters, and helps sets the stage for a father/daughter dynamic what starts the unravelling.Set within this fabric of a story is the main character Ray (played by Robert Carlyle), the leader of the gang. He has become disillusioned with his liberal mother's causes, and has gone to the criminal side, only to find that he is doomed to more disillusions of the path he has chosen. Why he has such faith in the social world of this criminal world is not explained, but it eventually becomes his hubris. As his world is crumbling around him, he seeks salvation by begging his girlfriend to start a new life with him, but she is fed up with his way of life, and doesn't see that they have any future together. She essentially says no.As everything spirals down around him, Ray has one last chance: a wistful hope of a rendevouz with his girlfriend. That scene is worth experiencing without my spoiling it.There are great performances everywhere. Ray Winston shows us the core of a seasoned gang soldier, and his hopes for his daughter's happiness and well-being. Philip Davis as Julian is the "loose canon" of the group (literally), and his scenes are very powerful...you just never know what he is capable of. The sweet innocence of Stevie, and Ray's affection for him, becomes a reflection of Ray's past, and is a constant reminder of the inner struggle within Ray.This is a very violent film, and that may turn people off, but the violence is not gratuitous.
5 out of 7 people found the following review useful: You can lose face, but don't lose money..., 8 January 2007 Author: Roger Burke (mayapan1942@yahoo.com) from Australia
The story is an amalgam of others that you may have seen: a ram raid operation using a heavy truck (a la Heat [1995]), a setup that includes a rat in the ranks (as in Reservoir Dogs [1992]), a police station invasion (straight out of Terminator [1984]) – all of which combine to present a passable thriller that's well acted, and produces the requisite surprises for the unwary viewer.Try as I might, however, I can't quite accept Robert Carlyle as a vicious bank robber; Billy Connelly would have been much better, indeed perfect as the disillusioned socialist turned criminal. Ray Winstone, I think, was born to play criminals in movies; he's so good at it, you wonder who his role model is (who can forget him in Ripley's Game [2002] or Sexy Beast [2000]?). But, for this movie, the one you have to watch is Philip Davis as Julian, whose quasi-sociopathic turn does wonders for the twists and suspense throughout this movie. Quite frankly, if not for his performance, this would have been a far lesser movie.The rest of the cast is uniformly adequate. Lena Headey, as Connie, plays the part of Carlyle's woman, but remains mostly in the back ground, only achieving more importance as the gang's business continues to unravel. It was nice to see Peter Vaughn, even in a bit part, as an aging friend of Carlyle; in fact, Vaughn's presence in the story is a bit of a puzzle because he's in it for all of seven or eight minutes only, and contributes almost nothing to the plot. However, he has such a delightfully lecherous smile...There are some inventive scenes. The camera work for the ram raid is superb, with excellent editing, using many reverse angle shots – and very quickly done seamlessly, as it should be. Later, when Carlyle finds out that their stolen money is being stolen by somebody else, he discusses the problem with his girl friend; and while he does so, he stands in front of a poster for a movie from 1990, Hidden Agenda, a Ken Loach classic! Carlyle shoulda taken notice of the writing on the wall, hmmm? The showdown between all the crooks (those still alive) at a cop's house is stark, casually vicious and shattering. And the finale in the police station is deadly serious (a big body count) but also borders on the camp, particularly when Julian goes plain nuts. You have to see it to appreciate it...Sure, it is a well-done movie, and better than the usual run of cops and robbers film from the Brits. But, as I said, if it hadn't been for Julian grimly determined to get his money (much like Lee Marvin in Point Blank [1967] who just wanted his $40,000 and killed almost everybody to get it), it would have been more humdrum than humming along...
4 out of 6 people found the following review useful: I Couldn't Help It., 4 August 2008 Author: jzappa from United States
Face is among the subgenre of movies that can still blindside me with severe mediocrity. There are intermittent times when I simply cannot resist a cheeky gangster flick, and Face is one of the candygrams that blows up in your face. There's nothing inherently wrong with the story except that it has been used more times than a hooker's hanky, the basic premise anyway.The film begins with Robert Carlyle and Ray Winstone, two of England's great screen badasses, breaking into a drug dealer's apartment, posing as police officers in order to raid his cash and his stash. The next scene begins the unfolding of the mainline of the plot, a bank robbery. And they have their logistics man, Robert Carlyle's old friend from prison, et cetera. Then the third event in the film is the inevitable betrayal within the heist crew. And of course there's Carlyle's nagging, guilt-laying girlfriend. I've always wondered what else will happen in a crime film whenever the story's pivotal heist occurs in the first twenty minutes other than betrayals and nagging token female characters. These filmmakers don't seem to have shared my curiosity.Aside from a small portion of time given to Carlyle's backstory as a war protester, Face is just another recycled crime flick for teenagers telling the age-old tale of a group of violent criminals and what happens to them after they steal a lot of money. It even employs another thriller gimmick: It's set over the course of 48 hours in and around the city, in this case London. What director Antonia Bird, who did later direct a decent Robert Carlyle movie called Ravenous, tries to do is gloss the film with grunge, badassery and style as a substitute for expanding on what she pulled off the assembly line, one of the results of this choice being a soundtrack that is unusually bad for an English gangster film.I'm sure I'm not being fair enough to this movie. There are several assembly line movies that are entertaining enough, but frankly I don't feel that requires an explanation that differentiates between this and them. To me, if you're making an insincere movie, the audience has the right to be subjective. Whether one considers it a good movie or not is now pure luck. With Face, I was bored and cynical. If it were on TV on a lazy day or when I need to kill a little time, I might stay for a few minutes of the shootout in the street (in which you can briefly hear an unmistakable soundbite of Tim Roth's wailing early in Reservoir Dogs), or for one good if very brief scene, where Carlyle is comforted by Winstone by hugging him when he's crying.
4 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Carlyle at his best, great script and a fantastic cast., 15 March 1999 Author: fmfever
Carlyle at his best, great script and a fantastic cast. I would strongly recommend anyone who has not seen this film as yet to get it immediately. British cinema is finally starting to move away from romantic comedies and period pieces, and showing that they can make excellent films on small budgets. Another must see, is Lock, Stock and two Smoking Barrels.
Such an underrated film, Carlyle at his best., 10 November 2009 Author: horns_uk from Estonia
I for one am a great lover of London films, this movie has the same Filmer's (if i can call them that) as Love Honour and Obey.One of my old friends who is from the states, but lived over in the UK when we were at school recommended this to me. Dash is his name. I cant thank him enough, well anyway if you like these films, you have got to get hold of this one, why oh why is this not in the top 250 beats me, Also,how the hell have i missed this.well rant over, just watch it and enjoy, okay okay its a bit far-fetched in parts, but that makes the film. sound track is great as well. top notch
3 out of 6 people found the following review useful: One of the best London gangster movie of recent years......, 7 August 2006 Author: popcorncharlie from United States
I saw Face at the cinema on Leicester Square upon release. I strongly agree with previous reviews that this movie was definitely overlooked at the cinema, which is strange as it has a strong cast. I have only seen this movie shown on TV once and the DVD is quite hard to find in the US. Face contains solid performances from a cast that features many famous actors, plus some very familiar faces from British TV and lower budget movies. The movie has great, realistic, believable script, with a twisty plot that keeps you entertained to the last scene. One of Robert Carlyle best performances, plus Ray Winstone (as ever) and even Damon Albarn are on great form. Portrays a very gritty side of London, in the rain. Highly recommended for anyone who is a fan of the British crime genre, not to be missed! 8 out of 10!
3 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Excellent, 30 December 2000 Author: leostr2000 (leostr2000@netscapeonline.co.uk) from London
This is a very good London gangster film. Anyone who's enjoyed Lock Stock.. should see this; it's almost a precursor to the modern genre of London Gangster Films. Carlyle is, as is so often, brilliant, and Winstone is.. well, Winstone!!Damon Albarn (him of Blur) has a relatively brief, but well played character, Jason. The plot, a gangster gone sour drama, is OK- until the sneak of the gang was identified, I wouldn't have guessed them! The action is gritty, and it seems that the shootouts, so unlikely in terraced road, are frightenly realisticExcellent performances all round, superb script... well worth staying in for.
Add another review
