Villain

Nobody in this movie has a complex inner emotional life, so it's not surprising that the movie's ending is ridiculous.

Brisk yet flavorful, gritty even when stylish, its occasional plot-logic leap smoothed over by a tone that deftly balances a resigned good humor with violent threat...

Any movie containing the line "You need to grab that hacksaw and start on his legs" is already halfway to winning me over, and Philip Barantini's "Villain" does not disappoint.

Standard genre material brought to life by a quietly compelling performance.

A muted Fairbrass does some good on-camera brooding, but the character and the film never feel like more than a paper-thin pose.

But Villain feels like twenty-first-century London: racially diverse, divided along class and privilege lines, scared of the young, scared of getting old.

The script is hampered by conventions of the past without ever finding new methods to innovate, and it leaves the whole thing feeling languid in how it unfolds.

Over-familiar gangland lullaby worth a sit-thru, if not worth one's undivided attention.

A predictable gangster family revenge film makes good.

A motion picture of folk-art integrity and conviction of sensibility, done by a band of outsiders with something to prove - a debutant out to make a mark and a leading-man showing that, sure, he can crack a skull, but he can break a heart too.