Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Beautiful movie. Surprising plot, excellent acting, and a breathtakingly wonderful photography. Absolutely loved it.

I had some bigger expectations from this movie. That's because I had a small role, Protestant Muslim at 1hour 21 plus another scene. I am always terribly sincere and objective, so this is my opinion: I did not read the book but I understood the dialogue perfectly (most of the others who wrote reviews here they are complaining about the bad sound and the incomprehensible English - well, advantage me, I've learned English all alone, watching tens of thousands of films and translating them in my home country, Romania, for 17 years...) The film is neither stupid nor great, it is moderate to not say mediocre. The image is excellent (Felix Wiedemann), and the music also (Ruth Barrett). The actors' performance did not impress me at all. They are just... acting. Overall, the movie is boring, it has nothing spectacular, the story is trivial and uninteresting. Worse and awkward scene is also the most important in the film, when Farzad Akhtar(Roshan Seth) is shooting Jerry Quinn (Barry Aird).

Private eyeing in present day Britain is a rough proposition. Guns are illegal, and then there's the whole immigration tension going on. Tommy Akhtar (wild eyed Riz Ahmed) is a typical, hard-drinking, tough talking, fistcuffing gumshoe with a heart of gold, trying to solve a missing Russian escort case whilst his very complicated past comes back to further cloud the perpetually rainy skies of London.Ahmed is perfect in the lead, offering equal parts macho and empathetic soul; the gutsy dick able to take a beating, romance a good woman, and stand loyally by his loved ones. "City of Tiny Lights" uses interesting political bents with religious, racial and drug tensions seething in the background, showing England for the explosive melting pot it truly is. Beautifully shot in wet, dark London, sparkling with Christmassy bokeh lights popping out of ominous shadows, this is one gorgeous looking film. A little messy and cacophonic at times, this stab of celluloid is saved by a splashy, vibrant style that is pure eye candy.

There appears to be something wrong with the sound mixing, perhaps a post production goof but this film is very hard to follow as the dialogue is lost in the background noise.I might add that I am both British and used to London and regional brit accents, yet I still struggled, In the interests of full disclosure, I never made it to the end of the film due to said issues, so my low score reflects my dissatisfaction with the audio quality.Learn to lip-read, or avoid