Best movie of this year hands down!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

I discovered Clubbed by chance when I came across a copy promoting the release of the film on DVD in the office. That I had never heard of it is, in a way significant, in as far as it is an independent production without big studio backing and obviously only had limited promotion when it was first released in cinema. Or at least limited promotion of which I was unaware. That is a shame, because it isn't half bad (as we Brits tend to understate), and deserves a wider audience. Briefly, it is the story of a man who discovers courage and self-respect. Mel Raido is that man - Danny - a factory worker in a dead-end job who has been divorced by his wife and dotes on the two daughters he can only see by arrangement and the goodwill of his wife. By chance he meets Louis, a nightclub bouncer who is passionate not only about boxing but the psychology of violence, fear, warfare and 'fighting with fighting'. He also meets Louis's two assistant bouncers Rob and Sparky, of whom Rob is by far the more sympathetic. Other characters include a local psychopathic hoodlum and his henchmen, and Danny and Sparky's wives. Every performance is strong and intelligent, and there is a horrible logic to how everything gradually spins out of control with Rob dying a horrible death, Sparky killing himself by drinking bleach and Louis serving 12 years in prison for an attack on Hennessy, the hoodlum. Invariably, Clubbed will be lumped together with other recent Brit films - the DVD bills it as a cross between Trainspotting and Layer Cake, but that is unfair. It is more intelligent than Layer Cake ever was and has none of the very dark - Scottish - humour of Trainspotting. If anything, my one criticism is that Clubbed lacks depth: we could have done with more characterisation and the establishment of character and motivation. If that would have made the film longer, well so be it, I, for one would not have complained. Given that British films, as a rule, have far more limited resources than Tinseltown productions, and given that independent British films have even fewer resources, Clubbed is exceptionally well-made. However, as with other Brit films, a certain self-consciousness comes over in as far as Clubbed knows that it will be likened to the other Brit flick lowlife gangsters films which have been made these past ten years and, more pertinently, that is where it will be assumed it target audience is. But clubbed is not just another lowlife gangster film. It is a film examining character, yet I sense that, with one eye on the market - which means the finances, which means not losing money - it feels it has to pull its punches slightly and cannot get as deep into an examination of Danny's psyche as it would have like to have done which, at the end of the day, would have made a good film even better. Finally, it has to be said that the portrayal by Mel Raido - who would be a shoo-in for the title role of any mooted biopic of the great Norman Wisdom - is superb, and that despite the necessary limitations of the script and direction, he gains sympathy for his character Danny, at heart a decent family man who has yet to realise his full potential.

Back in July 2004 it was announced that Piers Brosnan was standing down as James Bond. The speculation as to who was going to take over the role was hot. The usual suspects were talked about. Clive Owen ,Ewan McGregor, Paul Bettany and even Hugh Jackman but there was one name on the short list that i would have loved to have seen get the role and that is the black British actor Colin Salmon. Even Daniel Craig said he would love to have seen Salmon get the role but I'm not so sure that true Bond fans would have been so accommodating. In this Gritty British gangster flick we see exactly why Colin Salmon is regarded as one of our top British actors. The tale begins in the present day, with factory worker Danny , experiencing prolonged marital estrangement from his wife, Angela . The narrative then flashes back to the '80s, when Danny makes the ill-advised decision to tote his young daughters to a brutal working-men's club - and gets promptly jumped and beaten by henchmen of the crime boss Lord Billy Hennessy .Reeling from the humiliation and suffering of this experience, Danny first attempts suicide, then does an about-face and opts to fight back by training as a boxer and taking a job as a bouncer at a local nightclub. Lo and behold, as it turns out two of the men with whom Danny trained, Sparky and Rob , not only have direct ties to Hennessy but opposing ties - one is letting Billy's drug dealers in, the other attempting to keep them out. As Hennessy watches the curtain unveiled before his eyes on the men's doings, it sets off a chain of nasty and ugly retributions that ultimately culminate with Danny wresting control of the situation and engaging in violent action against Hennessy's goons.The British film industry really does produce some great movies . It's just a shame they don't get the publicity and distribution they deserve. Director Neil Thompson and writer Geoff Thompson have teamed up to make a very entertaining film in "Clubbed".It's a film about deception and loyalty as a lot of gangster movies are but this one has a freshness about it. Mel Raido who plays the main character "Danny" , is fantastic. I have not seen him in anything before and he performs admirably alongside Colin Salmon and the likable Maxine Peake.Sure it's violent but i felt it was totally necessary to tell the story . I loves the disco soundtrack and the authenticity of the era the film is set in. The cars , the costumes the buildings all feel like it was set in and around 1980.The ending has a smart little twist that i never saw coming and a great deal of credit has to go everyone involved in Clubbing. I hope it gets a U.S DVD release as it would be a great shame if it didn't.Clubbed is release on DVD in the UK on May the 18th.Recommended.8 out of 10.

Why does the poster & artwork say "Clubbed is one of the best UK indie films I have seen in a very long time. SCREEN INTERNATIONAL" when it was a quote of the French distributor REPORTED by Screen International (an influential film trade publication). See www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=39811 which reads:"Pretty Pictures has acquired all French-speaking rights to Neil Thompson's Clubbed ....James Velaise, president of Pretty Pictures, said: "Clubbed is one of the best UK indie films I have seen in a very long time.""Isn't this rather misleading? The distributor is bound to say it's good. Are the other quotes real?

"Clubbed" is yet another 'will-this-do?' entry into the Brit fisticuffs genre and is sure to keep punters who aren't expecting too much moderately entertained for ninety minutes after a few beers. However, for anyone seeking intelligent, quality entertainment it's really best avoided.There are so many misnomers in the appalling script that even an actor of the calibre of Colin Salmon is left looking daft. The action is set in the 1980s, but it's never clear why, especially when they haven't been able to pull off any convincing feel for that decade - it takes more than a few 80s soul records on the soundtrack, the occasional zoot suit and a handful of 30-year-old cars. Then we see central characters studying texts such as Sun Tzu's "The Art Of War" and speaking about how violence should be a last resort, while the same characters seem only too willing to start doling out punches with all the testosterone-fuelled, unthinking abandon of a bunch of chavs fighting over a bag of chips.Character development does not exist in "Clubbed". Nor does irony, subtlety or pathos. This is a film which trades on fond memories of Guy Richie's early gangster films, which despite their flaws certainly had much more wit, better editing, snappier dialogue and packed more emotional punch than this limp little saga. They're a decade old now, anyway - isn't it time we moved on from trying to emulate them?