Wonderful character development!

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

this is the first movie inspired by the rattendon range rover murders.the others are (rise of the foot-soldier and bonded by blood) but this one is easily the best. tom Wilkinson is a great actor as he really flexes his acting skills in this movie and so does Sean bean the movie is great from start to finish and will keep anyone who is interested in British crime entertained. NOTE:there is a rape scene in the movie that did make me very nervous on watching the rest of the movie but I'm glad that i did because it really does have a dramatic ending witch did leave me shouting at the TV.if anyone enjoys this movie perhaps you should check out the books and other movies.rise of the foot-soldier is a bit too violent and bloody but is still good.bonded by blood is a little better that rise of the foot-soldier but not as good as Essex boys give it a go!!!

gritty drama that brings home the underworld drug scene in Essex. would recommend the book Essex boys by Bernard o'mahoney. i was glued to my seat all the way through.highly recommended.Sean bean is superb as Jason Locke and links well with the actual triple murder that the film tries to portray. although the names are fictional,anyone who knows about the rettendon murders will know that the film is based on that event and the rise of the drug barons in Essex and the tragic death of Leah Betts is also touched on. all i can say is that i would certainly recommend this film to anyone and i haven't put the book down for days such is the powerful writing. 10 out 10

I didn't really like this movie, but had to admit it was compelling. Sean Bean gives a performance as the evil drug thug that compares favorably (if that's the word I want) with Dennis Hopper's crazed bully in "Blue Velvet." It's outstanding work, but if you're a Sharpe fan (and who isn't?) it may be a bit jarring. I mean, this guy throws acid in faces, beats his wife, laughs at suffering, rapes a teenager and strangles her more or less accidentally. That's in addition to selling the drugs and other criminal activities.Bean is, in fact, so good at being bad, he almost tips the movie over. Alex Kingston and Jim Wilkinson - versatile, dependable and often outstanding actors themselves, do what they can to take a scene away from him, and never quite manage. Charlie Creed-Miles, as the innocent who gets drawn into all this, is quite convincingly intimidated.An icy jazz score and crisp direction keep the story moving along at a brisk pace. You may be repulsed, but you probably won't be bored.

For those who remember the actual triple murder in Essex which inspired the film, this carries an added edge of realism. The setting - the mock-tudor nouveau riche houses of the gangsters, the Southend seafront, the freezing marshes where Billy runs for his life, are as evocative, as the true-to-life performances of Sean Bean, Alex Kingston and Tom Wilkinson. It is refreshing to see a film which portrays the underworld in all its vindictive pettiness - the little slights which turn into murderous feuds - dozens poisoned by a rogue batch of E, a young girl, dead from an overdose, casually dumped at sea...The Hollywood view of Gangland England has been too long focused on the East End - Snatch, Long Good Friday, Lock, Stock... when real Londoners know the East End's good for curry houses, and the gangsters headed out to the Home counties years ago.Interesting to note that several comments in the reviews of this superlative film concerned the unintelligible accents. I should point out that viewers in the UK (and Holland and most Scandinavian countries) regularly enjoy American films without the aid of subtitles, so how come you find it so hard to understand us? :) We didn't complain that the cast of Donnie Brasco or Goodfellas had New York accents, so why complain that the Essex boys have Essex accents?