Simply Perfect

best movie i've ever seen.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This is a slightly schizo movie....with excellent elements, and then some seemingly randomly inserted flashbacks apropos nothing!! The acting is great, if slightly stereotypical of genre...think Lock Stock... but hugely entertaining. The soundtrack is excellent, reminiscent of a decade, and full of portent....very clever.And then we have the flashbacks!!! At times it seemed as if there was two directors pulling the movie in different directions, or as another reviewer suggested, that it was edited to death. In either case, I think the movie survived the mauling, and comes through, slightly disheveled, but watchable...

This is one of the best British Gangster movies of all time! Sadly overlooked. Robert Carlyle is brilliant and authentic in his delivery as a gang leader with a conscience. Like 'Clockers' this is a movie that makes you think. This is not just a gangster/robbery movie. It looks into the lives of each character and their interaction with society and each other. It looks at trust and conscience. The dialog is the best I have heard in this sort of movie and very real. Brilliant performances from all! Great story and ending. Why this was not promoted properly at the time I don't know. Its better than the middle class made Lock Stock, and on a par with The Long Good Friday. Watch and enjoy.

The story is an amalgam of others that you may have seen: a ram raid operation using a heavy truck (a la Heat [1995]), a setup that includes a rat in the ranks (as in Reservoir Dogs [1992]), a police station invasion (straight out of Terminator [1984]) – all of which combine to present a passable thriller that's well acted, and produces the requisite surprises for the unwary viewer.Try as I might, however, I can't quite accept Robert Carlyle as a vicious bank robber; Billy Connelly would have been much better, indeed perfect as the disillusioned socialist turned criminal. Ray Winstone, I think, was born to play criminals in movies; he's so good at it, you wonder who his role model is (who can forget him in Ripley's Game [2002] or Sexy Beast [2000]?). But, for this movie, the one you have to watch is Philip Davis as Julian, whose quasi-sociopathic turn does wonders for the twists and suspense throughout this movie. Quite frankly, if not for his performance, this would have been a far lesser movie.The rest of the cast is uniformly adequate. Lena Headey, as Connie, plays the part of Carlyle's woman, but remains mostly in the back ground, only achieving more importance as the gang's business continues to unravel. It was nice to see Peter Vaughn, even in a bit part, as an aging friend of Carlyle; in fact, Vaughn's presence in the story is a bit of a puzzle because he's in it for all of seven or eight minutes only, and contributes almost nothing to the plot. However, he has such a delightfully lecherous smile...There are some inventive scenes. The camera work for the ram raid is superb, with excellent editing, using many reverse angle shots – and very quickly done seamlessly, as it should be. Later, when Carlyle finds out that their stolen money is being stolen by somebody else, he discusses the problem with his girl friend; and while he does so, he stands in front of a poster for a movie from 1990, Hidden Agenda, a Ken Loach classic! Carlyle shoulda taken notice of the writing on the wall, hmmm? The showdown between all the crooks (those still alive) at a cop's house is stark, casually vicious and shattering. And the finale in the police station is deadly serious (a big body count) but also borders on the camp, particularly when Julian goes plain nuts. You have to see it to appreciate it...Sure, it is a well-done movie, and better than the usual run of cops and robbers film from the Brits. But, as I said, if it hadn't been for Julian grimly determined to get his money (much like Lee Marvin in Point Blank [1967] who just wanted his $40,000 and killed almost everybody to get it), it would have been more humdrum than humming along...

"Face" was not a bad movie. The story was involving and the caper was exciting but the setting was pretty grim and the movie was rather violent. The robbers were audacious and the plot took some unexpected, entertaining twists. It seems that English movies, if not portraying the upper classes, portray a depressive squalor. It all seems so wet and dirty and everyone chain smokes. Maybe American movies portray our not-upper classes as louts wearing black leather and stubble also. The tough guy look of American movies has become cliched. Wouldn't you like to see a crime movie where the bad guy is not walking around dressed as "the bad guy". Why not a neon arrow pointing him out. If you were a bad guy would you wear the required black leather coat, not shave and smoke incessantly. There is a concept of being inconspicuous. Maybe if you contrast that to the good guy wearing a $4000 suit and driving a $50K car while working a $30K police job it doesn't seem so bad. I guess a bit of fantasy is required to enjoy this drivel.