Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

That was an excellent one.

Absolutely Brilliant!

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

The last film from Penny Woolcock I saw was Exodus – a failed attempt to stage the story of Moses in Margate using real people as the majority of the cast. That film only sticks in my mind but the idea was good in terms of the creative process but yet it failed to work when it came to making a film. When I heard about 1 Day, the potential for me to end up saying the same thing seemed high because this is an urban drama thriller which is set in the world of Birmingham gangs, again casting real people without any need for experience acting. Did I mention it was also a musical? Well the action is also punctuated with UK grime scene tracks from the characters. It seemed to me like it may not work but since it was set in Birmingham I was interested to take a look.The film actually works pretty well as a straight thriller because the plot is essentially a race against time where Flash has to find the missing difference in the money he owes his boss or else get killed – all this while balancing the pressure from his family and his three babymothers. I liked this aspect of it because it did have a good pace to it and it did produce a rather exaggerated world of guns and gangs in a Midlands setting. It isn't the cleverest of scripts or the most thrilling of thrillers but I was reasonably interested in the overall flow of the story. The musical numbers don't really break this up too much and mostly they work – not all of them, but mostly they work. It helps I suppose that I personally like the music, but I can imagine that if you don't then they will only jar. The opening "through the streets" number is good but my personal favourites were the two babymothers (Justice and Lady Leshurr) going together – both had strong voices, impressive speeds and the lyrics were great.Others here have commented on the "negative presentation" of urban culture and there was added controversy when the film was removed from Birmingham cinemas in fears it would draw an audience from gangs and would produce trouble (even though the two gangs here are as fictional as the streets they represent). These two things gave me pause because in theory this film is no difference from loads of other crime thrillers – they all show crime, so why was 1 Day somehow giving gang culture a "voice" as opposed to just using it as a plot device? Well, the use of real people as actors suggests a documentarian edge. The musical numbers also prevents it being a full-on thriller. Mostly though, setting it in the very real world of Birmingham gangs perhaps suggest that it is giving the gangs an "outlet". I'm not totally sold on this but the film does have this rather unpleasant edge throughout because it is a little irresponsible in terms of content because it doesn't offer much in the way of condemnation while at the same also giving the characters a "voice".The best example of this is the track in the burger bar: this tracks has the 4 or 5 hoodies berating the (badly-acted and comical) frightened white customers for judging them on their looks and pulling their bags close etc. 3 minutes is given to the characters to make this point even though their actions in the rest of the film suggests that actually this is a perfectly correct assumption to make. It is also a shame that, although I liked the music, so much of it is violent and misogynist in content – which is why I liked the babymothers most perhaps, but it was clever and well used as a track.Overall 1 Day is not as bad as the score on IMDb currently suggests (3.9?). The basic plot is decent and the film has solid drama and pace to it, while I did also like the music and the way it worked within the film was much better than I expected. It does have a sense of the negative though and the use of "real" people and "real" locations suggest that the film is meant to have an element of "reality" to it but, beyond a humorous family meal and a preachy preacher, the vast majority of this reality is violent and negative. It has a limited appeal but if you are looking for an OK urban UK thriller or like your grime culture then this is actually worth a look.

OK, so I decided to watch a movie called 1Day which has caused controversy among cinemas in Birmingham thus not showing the movie in Birmingham but everywhere else. I agree with the cinemas when they said they wouldn't show the movie. The story is based around the gangs in Birmingham and is about a guy called Flash and his best friend/drug dealer tells him that if he doesn't get one hundred bags of 'scrilla' in two hours then he would 'lick him up, you get me blud?'…that's basically the story. One man trying to get his best mate's 'scrilla' otherwise he'd 'lick him up'.I thought this would be a lot like the brilliant Kidulthood and Adulthood but instead it's something negative and nasty in my eyes. Instead of trying to send a strong message about how young teenagers shouldn't join a gang, the movie did the exact opposite from my view. It looked like it was positive to join a gang as the thugs in the movie felt no guilt or remorse about their actions (bar one scene with Flash and his mother but he went right back to not feeling anything…again). The movie apparently sends a strong message about gangs but the only message I could see is that it's okay to be in one. I know they were trying to send a message that gang life isn't all it's cracked up to be but would the audience really see that in this movie? I would like to hear a comment from the filmmakers about what kind of message is being sent and where is it being shown? I mean, Flash was teaching a ten-year-old to rob, to shoot a gun, to sell drugs and make money, etc and Flash looked like he weren't bothered. There were some very small messages that started out good and then went back to being negative (like in the graveyard when they were visiting El Presidente's grave and then a gunfight started) but I doubt most people who will see this movie will actually see the messages as they didn't appear strong enough.Also, as mentioned before in a review, there was one particular scene that stuck out like a sore thumb in my head which was the part when they were in a fast food restaurant and one of the thugs raps about how, because he was black, a woman thinks he'd rob her because she clutches her handbag. Could the reason quite possibly be because you were loudly talking about drugs and murder and the fact that you had a gun on show with your hood up? Nah, it couldn't be, could it.The only thing good about the movie is the soundtrack. The songs in the movie kept the mood and the behaviour portrayed in the movie which is a positive thing. The acting is surprisingly good sometimes but other times it was just rubbish. The characters were instantly dislikeable and remained like that through the entire movie, there was no likable person in the movie whatsoever and none of the characters looked like they wanted out of their thuggish lives. The movie is badly written even though I can believe that this happens in real life. To watch this movie, you would need to understand street slang to fully understand what is being said in the movie.Honestly, my opinion of this movie is very negative. I don't believe it's showing a strong message about gangs and how it's not good to be in one. The messages are there but they're very weak. I can't see anyone liking this movie but two audiences and those are either chavs or the audience that are like the characters displayed in the movie and considering the certificate for this movie is only a 15, I expect the cinemas will have trouble on their hands.Terrible!To read more reviews, please visit: www.dudedazzmoviereviews.wordpress.com

I will start off by saying that the acting wasn't great, the plot was badly written and to be honest, in parts the film was grim and depressing. Other critics on this site have misunderstood the plot line, they say the film glamorizes the gang culture, well in some aspects it does, all the drug dealers and thugs have expensive cars, they wear expensive jewelry and have nice clean clothes. Money is glamorous and these men seem to have alright lives so i suppose that is attractive to some people. It would be wrong to say that the film glamorizes the gang culture because if you payed attention to the film you would've seen that (SPOILER ALERT!) all the gangsters (except one) died at the end after a gunfight in an underground car park.I wouldn't call the film inspirational but i thought it could've had potential with a bit more work. 8/10

The acting was superb, I found the adult actors and actresses very believable in their roles. The quality of the production was excellent, in fact it was better than most urban/gangland films that I've seen here in America with relatively unknown actors/actresses. The Hip-Hop/Grime musical sprinkled throughout the movie was very much welcomed after the first performance, as I've stated before the actors/actresses are really talented. Many people will be looking for a message within the film and probably won't find one. This was a window into the life of a young man who was in over his head and the type of characters and drama he was surrounded by. Believe it or not, not all thugs/gangsters reflect on their way of life and view it as downtrodden, It is was it is to some of them. As an American the slang used is different but based on the context of any dialogue it wasn't difficult to interpret.