Misogynistic, badly acted and just horribly misguided
Synopsis: The stoic chronicles of Castor, orphaned as a child, forced to survive in the wild and his colorful journey through the criminal underworld of London.
Director: Savvas D. Michael
Writer: Savvas D. Michael
Stars: Steve Guttenberg, Ian Reddington, Daniel Caltagirone
Certification:
Run Time: 1hr 50mins
DaveOnFilm says: Quite simply one of the most disgustingly ugly films I have ever seen. From the horribly misplaced misogyny towards any women in the film, to the horribly narrated story. Castor (Alex Mills) providing voiceover just doesn’t seem right at all, with the lines read with as much elegance as a 5 year old reading a book about a missing ball. Never once through the 110 minute runtime did I ever feel like we were watching anything that vaguely resembled the gangster underworld. It felt like we were watching someone’s make-believe fantasy about what they would do if they were a gangster without doing any research into the topic at all other than watching a few soap operas.
At the beginning, it felt like it was going to be gritty and powerful, a young Castor is saved by Milo (Ian Reddington). Then with Castor living a life on the streets, being sexually advanced upon, and eating from dustbins, the film could have been great…but it wasn’t.
What follows was a cacophony of characters who just feel thrown together with a bunch of cliched situations, chucked into a blender and spat back out onto the screen.
Its not often I actually struggle to watch a film, but this took be three attempts to get through and even then I didnt enjoy any of the time I spent with it.
And what the hell did they have on Steve Guttenberg to get him involved in this project?
Throw in some very strange musical cues which feel like they are trying to be all Tarantino but fall massively short of their target, and you know where you are with this.
Original Gangster will be available on DVD & Digital Download from 5th April
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