Poor performances, stiff dialogue, flat characters, and an unimaginative stab at the mood of the Guy Ritchie crime caper make Dead Man Running into a hooligan tale with little to offer.
A loan shark gives ex-con Nick a period of 24 hours in order to pay back the money he owes. Up against it, Nick involves his best mate on a multi-part mission in order to raise the cash before it's too late for them both.
If Guy Ritchie lost interest while making another cockney-geezer caper and tried to get himself sacked by deliberately turning in half-hearted work, the result of his non-efforts might look something like this film.
This budget-conscious, simplistically plotted and often cringingly performed crime caper is not quite as inauspicious a producing debut as one might have expected.
Too dark and cumbersome as a comedy, too weak and unlikely as a drama, this retro Ritchie wannabe has an eye-catching cast but can't decide between the cartoon and the kitchen sink.
Dead Man Running feels like something cobbled together after a cynical producer saw Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and decided to cash in. Except it is ten years too late.
It ticks all the right boxes for the Brit crime genre and won't disappoint fans of Guy Ritchie's oeuvre, even if it lacks the flair that once made the latter's films so popular.
Is there any way of stemming the flow of post-Guy Ritchie cockney crime comedies? Would, say, sticking Danny Dyer's head on a pike somewhere in Bethnal Green be enough of a deterrent? Because I for one would be willing to pay that price.
To be fair, as Danny Dyer movies go, Dead Man Running is better than average, thanks to his likeable chemistry with Hassan and a lively, if predictable plot.
My predicted rating: 3 starsIf I said I watched a film about some friends in London who borrowed £100k and have a time limit in which to pay it back to some Gangsters, whilst trying to juggle lots of distracting characters along the way, throw in a bare knuckle boxer, a fixed bet and a famous name from across the pond,
you'd think it had Guy Ritchie written all over it! With a full cast of British Actors (and one 50 Cent), the idea is clearly based on the Guy Ritchie films, but not quite as stylish. It was predictable in parts and both Dyer and Hassan are their usual typecast selves, but when all is said and done, it was quite funny in parts and made for easy watching, Brenda Blethyn was comical and provided the best performance of the film and all in all it was an easy watching, enjoyable copycat film.
First of all, don't pass on this because 50 cent is listed in the cast. He has about 7 min of scenes...and trust me, that's more than enough. This movie definitely had that British action comedy vibe, but I laughed out loud more than a few times (plus a few giggles), and was thoroughly entertained. The characters were
really good - the star, his sidekick, the mom, and the girlfriend were all pretty funny. Definitely worth a watch!
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