The life of Willie Parker, a young courageous and cunning gangster, who after betraying his boss, flees to live in Spain, where he begins a new life, has been turned upside down, when he has been taken back to Paris, where the mob makes his mind to revenge.
Frears and writer Peter Prince have taken a potentially familiar tale of a gangland betrayal and revenge and made something richly inventive and most entertaining.
transmits an alien grip on atmosphere and tone that keeps one enthralled even as it ponders the very basis of being
TV Guide
September 15, 2015
Besides having a superb screenplay, Frears is blessed, here, with an unparalleled cast. Both Hurt and Stamp are as good as they've ever been, while the very young Tim Roth makes a very promising debut.
really more of an exploration of the disjunction between exteriors and interiors, and while some may find it slow-going, those who see it for what it is will find it an intriguing portrait of human nature
It is a dexterously balanced killer thriller by the idiosyncratic Frears, whose every scene becomes a matter of life and death. A lighter clicks, a gun clicks; life or death, it all sounds the same.
