Sadly Over-hyped

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Mafia movies are always somewhat confusing. They move very quickly, so it's hard to keep track of the timeline, and they introduce characters so quickly, that at times it's hard to keep track of who's who. Sometimes you have to watch a good mafia film a couple times, just so you can pick up on everything, but with Essex Boys, you'd be lucky to make it through the film just once. If the fast pace of the movie and large cast weren't confusing enough, add thick British accents to the mix, and it's hard to know what's going on. Sean Bean is a favorite of mine, especially when he's playing a bad guy, but there is so much back and fourth between different factions in this film, that I'm not so sure he was the bad guy. In fact, I'm not too sure of anything with this film. To me, Essex Boys was just one big confusing mix of gangsters double crossing and shooting at each other, the whole thing just didn't make a whole lot of sense at all. It really was a difficult film to watch and apparently, according to the other poor reviews, I'm not the only one who thinks so. Despite all that, not one, but two sequels have been made to this film. I am just bewildered by the whole thing, and my best advise is that even if you are the biggest mafia movie virtuoso in the world, this is a film you should definitely skip.

This shows the life of three gangsters through the eyes of their driver as they meet their untimely death.The film is a British gangster classic and captures the hard and gritty life of the Essex drug gangs, the film captures Jason Locke an ex-con who has come out of prison ready to start up his empire. The characters lack depth and seem to only love violence and drugs, then again thats all gangsters; the shoot out in the Land Rover however was an eye opener and kept me watching...There are odd appearances from veteran British actors every now and then which keep the film going....All in a ll a violent gangster movie...nothing more.

An entertaining work despite trying to do too much.They are trying to do a story based on an actual event then fictionalize it then try to make it in the stylized version of the U.K. gang films.There is an abundance of accents and moments that seem very familiar (as if they've been inspired by other movies).There is no lack of violence, nudity and swerves as required for a gangster picture but in all, I enjoyed watching it.It's not a classic but it's better than a lot of gangster flicks out there.I'm glad I gave it a shot.

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