In a bookstore I heard a snippet of music from this film that was quite good, sadly the rest was mediocre. And this is pretty much the same as this film. It did have quite a few things going for it, but also there were also things didn't really grab grab me. I'll give it a 6 (slightly better than average).
The police believe it was drink-driving accident but Jack Carter, a gangster from London, doesn't think so and goes to investigate the dead of his brother in Newcastle. Old relatives are friends re cagey, so Carter beings looking enquiring various gangs there. At first, Carter suspects that an old enemy, Kinnear, but a friend of his London boss Fletcher, might be involved. But when another local gangster leader Thorpe, suggests that the leaves Newcastle, rather forcibly, he changes his focus. Thorpe blames Kinnear and offers Carter money to kill him, but Carter isn't sure of the facts. Then to his great shock and sadness, he discovers that his brother's daughter has been filmed in a porn movie and that everyone is to blame. So, he starts to seek his revenge!
The realistic story takes place in the post-industrial, bleak Newcastle, and the characters are in a similar state of mind. They are all cold and cruel. Carter is particularly violent! There's is no hero in this film to root for - except perhaps for "J" to do his job! Maybe at the time it was at the cutting edge of fashion and style, too far on the cutting edge, because now it all looks very dated. But the ugliness of gangsters, drugs and porn, are depicted with a brutally harsh, uncomfortable, light. The acting is superb (complete with Cane's catch phrase "Do you know..?") and the story a twisted tangle of threads good to follow. Watch this for anti-heroes and don't mind realistic violence, otherwise, something with a little more fantasy escapism might be a better pick.
The police believe it was drink-driving accident but Jack Carter, a gangster from London, doesn't think so and goes to investigate the dead of his brother in Newcastle. Old relatives are friends re cagey, so Carter beings looking enquiring various gangs there. At first, Carter suspects that an old enemy, Kinnear, but a friend of his London boss Fletcher, might be involved. But when another local gangster leader Thorpe, suggests that the leaves Newcastle, rather forcibly, he changes his focus. Thorpe blames Kinnear and offers Carter money to kill him, but Carter isn't sure of the facts. Then to his great shock and sadness, he discovers that his brother's daughter has been filmed in a porn movie and that everyone is to blame. So, he starts to seek his revenge!
The realistic story takes place in the post-industrial, bleak Newcastle, and the characters are in a similar state of mind. They are all cold and cruel. Carter is particularly violent! There's is no hero in this film to root for - except perhaps for "J" to do his job! Maybe at the time it was at the cutting edge of fashion and style, too far on the cutting edge, because now it all looks very dated. But the ugliness of gangsters, drugs and porn, are depicted with a brutally harsh, uncomfortable, light. The acting is superb (complete with Cane's catch phrase "Do you know..?") and the story a twisted tangle of threads good to follow. Watch this for anti-heroes and don't mind realistic violence, otherwise, something with a little more fantasy escapism might be a better pick.
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