Set in a dystopic future London in 2015, where society has fallen apart, gangs have taken over and the economy is in complete anarchy. The story follows Junior and his older brother, Rager, who are in charge of a local gang, "The Paper Chaserz". They try to stay out of trouble and refuse to kill as part of their 'moral code', which is especially enforced by the strong but defensive Rager. Rager leads his gang, "The Paper Chaserz" and they plan to steal goods out of a local van. The robbery is successful, but a rival gang called The Soldiers, who are notorious and bloodthirsty in trying to take-over all other postcodes in the London area, attempt a theft. The "Paper Chaserz" escape, except for Junior who is stranded and cornered by The Soldiers. Rager reappears and saves his brother by beating all the rival gang members, telling Junior to leave. As Junior flees, Rager is attacked by the crews leader Tugz, who stabs Rager in the back multiple times. Junior now teams up with the rest of his gang to get revenge on The Soldiers. The gang meets a trio of girls named Ree Ree, Tash, and Little Lexy, who agree to help them as they also have a reason to get revenge against Tugz. An action film for the youth generation, set in a decaying future London. A gang set out on a chase to avenge the murder of one of their own. This film isn't for everyone. From the reviews this film has received on here I'd say that this film isn't really made for IMDb users specifically. The older generation that sees a good movie as a narrative with a quiet and linear plot line with some obvious sociological or spiritual statements would never understand this movie. I have been a film enthusiast for a long time. I've analysed a lot of movies but something like this I've never seen executed so well.<br/><br/>Anyone that's spent any time of their lives holding angst will have music to reflect and indulge in. For different forms of people from older generations different forms of rock did the trick. Nowadays we have something different that speaks to the current teen generation (specifically that of England). That would be grime and Dubstep (wiki it). It's filthy, it's grimy, it's hard hitting and, for some reason, it seems to capture the perfect blend of dance, spirit, anger and violence that younger generations have grown up with. So what the makers of this film (and of Kidulthood/Adulthood) did is spill this blend on screen and express this in the best possible way possible to them.The film is filled with aesthetics that, after a while, become you. You become all that is tense, angry and grimy.<br/><br/>Not that this movie is simply a Grime movie, there is a lot in the movie that people give it little credit for. While people were too busy pushing off this movie because of their natural dislike for anything new, many small things that resemble statements of maturity slipped by.<br/><br/>So let me start with a rundown of the film. It's 2015 (not that far away) and London is divided between the have and the have-nots because of social, political and economic reasons (much like District B13). The film's protagonist happens to be a quiet boy called Junior who, with his money-chasing brotherhood, ends up running into senseless violence and has to watch his big brother die trying to protect him. This, of course, leads to a near death-wish lust for vengeance. So he sets off to find the thug that killed him in order to make up for his belittlement. His brotherhood isn't really happy with the idea (excluding Craze) but they go along anyway.<br/><br/>Throughout the movie, his older peers-Kickz and Sweetboy, insist on telling him that it's never too late to go back and that absolute violence isn't the answer, same with a few older characters. However, these words do not reach Junior as he's stuck in a state of shock and has misinterpreted his feelings of mourning and insecurity as anger. <br/><br/>So he goes through many of the older generations of people for help, who're either drunk or trying too hard to show off a sense of importance. They have very little to say and pitch into his lust for violence. Finally, after long walks back and fourth in the area, he comes to face his brother's killer and ends up giving up the shank for a clean heart.<br/><br/>What the director was trying to express through the film was the confusion, anger and insecurity of having to grow up and live in a society brushed away from the eyes of an elite. Not only that but having to endure chaos while keeping a straight face. The movie makes several references to our need for violence by satirising video games. We see a video game sequence where Junior is running away from a helicopter on a bicycle but still get shot down. This is Junior giving narrative to his own anger and protagonising himself as the ultimate fighter but it ends in ruins when he falls down.<br/><br/>We also see another sequence where Junior is dreaming of him fighting his brother's killer in animation-mode. This is another statement about violence in cartoons. However, Junior wakes up when the cartoon dream doesn't go his way and only ends up amplifying the horribleness of what really happened to him and his brother. There are more things like this in the movie for viewers to catch.<br/><br/>This is the part where I note the drawbacks: -some parts (specifically with Whisper) were unnecessary -The editing in the club scene could've been leaner -Some characters were unnecessary -Junior's actor (Kedar)could've done a better job at being coherent when he talked. (I mean, srsly, how hard could it be to have a movie narration be fathomable?)<br/><br/>Other than that Ali did a good job by keeping true to the Audience with the music, plot and actors while also pushing his raw expression with sharp, grainy, washed out photography and nauseatingly shaky cinematography. This movie builds upon Kidulthood and shows us the future of black British Expression. There is nothing to gain or lose with this film. It's simply expression to be felt, heard and seen.<br/><br/>I don't expect anyone to understand this film now but in a few years this movie will be held up as a cult classic and a staple in a new emerging genre. The film starts off with an eye grabbing first scene which sets up the chaotic nature of the story line and the rest of the film. I found the storyline and the concept of the film very intriguing and I believe this was one of it's high lights. People have criticized it as predictable but to be quite honest; I thought the death of Rager was ridiculously unpredictable. The ending is slightly predictable, but aren't most?<br/><br/>I believe the script was the biggest let down for the film. The only decent scripting throughout the film is in our main character's (Junior) soliloquies type commentary in certain segments of the film. <br/><br/>I believe the director did an excellent job. The film has a unique morbidity to it, and the editing and filming techniques are almost perfect for the type of film (excluding the fight scene which I thought was very poorly portrayed and edited). The soundtrack was great; with a grime feel. The film was also strongly criticized as a film that condoned and glamorized knife/gang violence but I think it did the opposite. Despite the fact there is a revenge message through out the film, we are also shown the desperateness and the corrupt nature of the setting (which may I mention is non-existent anyway), and that such violence is the norm there, not to mention the "move on" (anti-revenge) turn at the end. <br/><br/>I enjoyed this film nearly as much as it's competitors Kidulthood and Adulthood and I feel it was too harshly criticized and is in fact; very underrated.
Crojanys replied
342 weeks ago