Best movie of this year hands down!
... View MoreSimple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
... View MoreAfter playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
... View MoreThere are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
... View MoreI'm not really sure what to make of this film. The first 45 or 50 minutes are fairly unsatisfying. With good story telling you become part of the story; here I found myself watching from the outside. I found it difficult to feel empathy for anyone. No character was really particularly interesting or likable. Then there was such too much of everything happening too fast: too many murders, too many sex scenes etc. Keeley Hawes' sex scenes are very, very erotic but I can't help wondering why they are in the film. After about 50 minutes, the suspense starts kicking in and the film becomes quite interesting and well paced. Unfortunately, you also can be pretty sure who the killer really is. Suspenseful as the second half of the film may be, it's also a rather banal storyline. Ex-soldier starts killing bad people taking revenge for everything that has happened in his life or in his world. The killings are gruesome but then again it's nothing we have not seen before. One victim is displayed in a butcher's window: I saw that in an EC comic from the early 50s. The moral question at the end of the day is then how justified these murders are and that the law can never catch the real culprits. That is hardly an original thought or motive in crime films.
... View MoreIts a shame that people get annoyed at low budget films and dont watch them to the end as there is some mighty fine moments in this film that must be seen to be enjoyed. It was a massive task trying to take Ian Banks novel and putting it on the big screen anyway and this film was possibly only about a tenth of as good as the book. Which still makes it very good although you can never truly realise how sick the killer really is, i mean they talk about what the killer has done and in some instances you actually see it but........its a low budget movie....it doesnt want to depend on gore .....it wants to make you think about what is hapening and more importantly WHY it is happening. Ever read a newspaper report about a daft judge giving stupid sentence and the criminal getting away with it...well this film is about that and what would happen if one man lost the rails and decided to go up against people that deserved the attention that they should have shown to others....or lack thereof. Great!!
... View MoreI am a great Banks' fan, and was awaiting this film eagerly. I am quite disappointed, though the film would presumably, if taken at face value and not compared to the novel, be OK.[Further text might constitute mild spoilers to some readers]The first thing one notices is that most material from the book is somehow stuffed into the film (with notable exception of Cameron's cancer and Basra Road episode - sorry for referring to the novel). The result is rapid succession of events that get barely touched, not leaving room for atmosphere or, paradoxically, even decent suspense to develop. There isn't a trace of suffocating mood of the novel. Events follow each other at the pace that does not allow them to evolve and to give viewer chance to absorb them. I think that Millar and Elsley would have done much better job if given (the superb BBC TV mini-series, also after Banks) The Crow Road format.Otherwise, the film is technically good. Casting and acting is very good, with one crucial exception: IMHO, Cameron is too young, far too cheerful and devoid of air of impeding doom around him.And BTW, DVD producers should have included, under excuse of doing that for the benefit of hearing impaired, English subtitles (Scottish accent is quite difficult for non-native speakers). I plan to watch the film one or two times more to see whether my opinion will improve by simply catching more of what was said :)
... View More"Complicity" is the second Iain Banks novel turned into a film, but while it is made for the big screen, it does not live up to the standards set by BBC's mini series "The Crow Road". While it is an entertaining and gripping thriller set in Edinburgh and the Highlands, it ultimately fails to convey the spirit of the book. The cast are good, though, and the story is excellent.It looks like a TV film, and while it is not exactly a wasted opportunity to bring Iain Banks to the cinema, it is slightly disappointing, although still worth watching.
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