Wonderfully offbeat film!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

cinematography starts out excellent, actors talented but do not bother with this film. I love Eddie Izzard and Steven MacIntosh; all the other actors were excellent but this was a hateful script, which tortures viewers. We readily identify with MackIntosh's & Natasha Little's characters, so evil done to them is spikes driven into our eyeballs. Not since "Clockwork Orange" have I hated a film so intensely and I admit that Clockwork had redeeming values, art-wise & social commentary-wise. "The Criminal" was a lame excuse for someone who is de-sensitized to violence (whether by video games or limbic system dysfunction) to slam viewers' heads down onto a table. I put it on fast fwd after 20 minutes into the film and made stops to catch up with dialogue, skipping violence. Thus, for me, the film was thankfully 45 minutes long. Despised the ending. Let it be known that my favorite writer is Dostoyevsky. So I'm not a suburban granny making whiny comments. I can handle intensity/violence if the plot is worthwhile & characters get to develop (I have to hand it to MackIntosh, his work in this was, as usual, top notch). My favorite movies are "Dr. Zhivago" and "Gangs of NY" (and I recently appreciated "In Bruges") These films do not spare the viewers' sensibilities, with Cossaks slaughtering innocents and Bill Cutting's vengeful personality. Please DO see Anything else that these talented actors have done & best wishes to the script writer. Director, you've got talent but get out of this genre, it's old hat.

Beware all the positive reviews. Reading that this film bears any resemblance to a Guy Ritchie film made me cringe."Contrived" never described a film as perfectly as it does this one.From laughable bad-cop antics, to pointless paranoid schizophrenics and finally to an brief and amateurish handling of serious political issues, "The Criminal" promises to fail to engage the mind of the sophisticated movie-watcher.That said, "The Criminal" isn't terrible. For the most part, the acting is better than average, and there certainly isn't a lack of action. However the writing and directing are marginal at best. 4 out of 10.

This film is really just something to watch when you are bored. It's by no means the worst film on the world, but it could have been so much better.There are some funny moments, and parts where you do wonder just what the hells going on. You can decide for yourself whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.I did enjoy the beginning, the way it kind of gave you a false sense of security; how it gave you the impression that the film might be something that was completely different from what it turned out to be. But it did go down hill from there on end.

Okay, it may not have the budget of Enemy of the State, but Julian Simpson's first film was undeniably enjoyable nonetheless. The Criminal, withstanding a few minor glitches, is one of the most likeable British films I've seen in ages. I must admit that I am slightly biased as I love conspiracy films but this had all the right ingredients: the innocent everyman hero on the run, spies, femme fatales, plot twists etc. It occasionally felt as if some scenes could've been cut to quicken the pace, but as it is it's still very entertaining.Bernard Hill, the Captain from Titanic, was brilliant as the foul-mouthed bad-tempered policeman, and Steven Mackintosh was believable as the everyman hero, without resulting to cliche's. The rest of the cast was made up with faces from TV, but this didn't matter as they were all great.