The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

6/26/18. Maybe 2 1/2 stars. Good acting by Oldman and Webb captured the chaotic drug-infused lifestyle of Sid and Nancy, Most of the time it was hard to watch their self-destructiveness which knew would end badly. And, it did.

I discovered punk rock at 14, when an older cousin showed me films of the Sex Pistols' concerts. From the first blast of "Anarchy in the UK", I fell in love with their joyfully angry noise, and was especially enthralled with their demented dervish of a bass player, Sid Vicious. He couldn't play, but that didn't matter: his manic, raging energy and "who cares?" scowl was candy to a nerdy fat kid from the suburbs. For about three months I insisted, much to my parents' chagrin, on being called "Sid".When I learned that Vicious had killed his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, I immediately rented "Sid and Nancy", the story of their doomed relationship. I then found one of my favorite movies. I have seen it dozens of times, and each time I feel that giddy, dangerous excitement of the first time you hear your favorite song. "Sid and Nancy" works on many levels: as a time capsule of punk rock in the 70s; as a love story between two damaged people; and as a scarily honest depiction of co-dependence and addiction. Sid Vicious meets groupie Nancy Spungen just as the Sex Pistols are taking off. They fall in love, not just with each other, but with love itself; they see themselves as Romeo and Juliet, destined to go out in a blaze of glory. After the Sex Pistols break up and the talentless Vicious' career flounders, their youthful rebellion turns into self-destruction, and their flirtation with heroin becomes full-blown addiction. One night, Spungen begs Vicious to keep his promise to kill them both, and in the ensuing struggle he stabs her to death. Soon after, he dies of a heroin overdose that is suicide in all but name.It might sound depressing - indeed, it's downright grim in spots - but "Sid and Nancy" is often an exhilarating film. It reminds us what it's like to be young and reckless, to feel everything too much. We feel the electric jolt of the couple's first kiss, the warm fuzziness of being crazy about each other. When things go bad, we feel a profound sadness for these wasted lives; we mourn for what might have been. This movie puts us through the wringer, and it's worth every twist.The cast is incredible. Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb give note-perfect performances; they do not so much portray Sid and Nancy as channel them. They even look like the people they're playing. Andrew Schofield and David Hayman have fun playing Sex Pistols lead singer Johnny Rotten and manager Malcolm MacLaren, respectively, as punk rock caricatures, and Xander Berkely - now best known as "24"'s counter-terrorism agent George Mason - gives a brief but chilling performance as a drug dealer who is all too eager to help his "pals" Sid and Nancy ruin their lives. And yes, in case you were wondering, that is a pre-fame Courtney Love, original nose and all, as one of Nancy's drug buddies.For me, "Sid and Nancy" is not just a great film, but a connection to my youth. As an adult, I know that Vicious and Spungen were basically overgrown adolescents who took "live fast and die young" far too seriously. Watching this movie, however, I feel the joy I felt the first time I heard punk rock, and I like to think that they simply wanted that incredible feeling to last forever. Who could blame them?

Let me start out by saying this is not a love story. This movie doesn't glamorize their story in any way. The beginning is amazingly accurate for depicting the punk scene and what the public thought of punks. Chloe Webb plays the role of Nancy perfectly people say that her character is annoying and disgusting but that is who Nancy was she was disgusting everyone hated her the only one who tolerated her was Sid. Gary Oldman portrays Sid as he was he had a bright future and it was destroyed when he met Nancy. This story shows their downward spiral together. This is amazing because it shows the truth how grim the reality of it was the accuracy of the drug abuse and effects on both physicality and the impact it has on an addict's life and the loss of ones self. I find it so brutally honest that everybody should watch to understand that time better. The only reason I rated it lower was because I felt it moved quite slow and there was quite a bit of unnecessary fluff.

Never have I seen two great actors consume their roles like Oldman and Webb here. Oldman's punk rock appearance looks so much like the real Sid Vicious, it's uncanny. This biographical tale is told in a creative and humorous handling of story, it makes it all so compelling. There are some bits that shock, violence, per see, like Oldman carving his intials in his chest, for a female fan. The way it's told is offbeat, and truly original, that has me loving the movie just as much as last time I've seen it, which let me tell you, is a few times. If Sid really did kill Nancy, which we are kind left in a hazy judgement, the film does it's best on recounting what went down. The Sex Pistols as illustrated here were the most raucous and unruly I've ever seen, Vicious at one stage, knocking out a member of the audience, and disposing of an empty beer glass on the sidewalk, only for starters. Sid and Nancy lived like pigs, one scene has them sitting up in bed, accepting their fate as they watch their hotel room go up in flames, played to a haunting music score. The movie does have great music too. Through the whole story we see how the relationship, Sid and Nancy had, suffered. Nancy in a phenomenal performance by Webb, had faced a lot of rejection if from family, whatever. The family reunion part, that does provide some humorous moments. Nancy also worked at a S and M bordello, to feed her drug habit. One bordello scene, that doesn't feature Nancy, with a client hanging from a ceiling, is a riot. I just love the way the stories formulated, with some nifty touches, one that dream sequence with Nancy coming back from the dead at the end, rolling up in a limousine, all dolled up. Another one has Sid revealing himself to a band of kids where at the mentioning of the name, they scuttle away, but the last part is done in EXTREME fast forward. Director Cox has had fun making this, and this is an impressive piece of filmmaking, considering Cox had made the much smaller film, cult hit Repo Man, a film that does indeed stand small against this. Oldman and Webb ought to be commended. The acting speaks for itself. I'd recommended this film, just for watching these actors in prized performances that are so authentically real, they'll stay with you forever. The featured end song "Love kills", rocks, and so does this masterpiece.