Film Reviews

Brighton Rock

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Helen Mirren
• Details: UK / 111mins (16).

Adapting a classic novel, which has been already adapted into a classic film is a tough venture. What can the new outing offer? How can you better a classic? This adaptation/remake by Rowan Joffe, the writer of 28 Weeks Later and The American, updates the events from the 30s to the 60s but fails to garner a coherent movie from the source material.
Brighton Rock opens promisingly - in keeping with the noir mood of the original, we're in a world of knife-wielding bad guys who lie in wait in shadows and stalk back alleys at night. We're also in the middle of a turf war: Mob leader (Geoff Bell) is knifed in the dark, leaving his crew of four - Dallow (Nonso Anozie), Spicer (Phil Davis), Pinkie (Riley) and Cubitt (Craig Parkinson) - alone to battle Mr. Colleoni's (a camp Andy Serkis) gang. The sociopathic Pinkie moves to control his crew, by bashing in the brains of Colleoni's minion Hale (a twitchy Sean Harris) under the pier. However, there's a possible witness in Rose (Riseborough), a naïve and innocent waitress. Wary she might go to the police, Pinkie sets about wooing Rose, as he knows that a wife can't testify against her husband…
Riley hasn't had a role to match his flawless turn as Ian Curtis in Control, but as the unhinged Pinkie he comes close. With his ruffled suits, dirty coats and cigarettes, Riley is in full-on Humphrey Bogart mode here - Bogie by way of Alex DeLarge, that is. Sporting a scar and a perpetual frown, Riley's piercing cold eyes would give anyone the willies. Riseborough too delivers in an awkward role. It's such a shame, however, that the script lets them down.
Joffe just can't join the dots. Pinkie switches from a kid paralysed by fear during a knife fight to full-blooded, confident killer with no bridging scenes in between; one scene sees newly elected gang leader Spicer bark orders but the next scene he's cowering in Pinkie's presence. It's unclear too why Rose, a sweet girl, would fall for Pinkie, a deranged hoodlum. It would be something if he was a smooth talker, but Pinkie, when he does speak, spits hateful remarks at her. Maybe she's the kind of girl who seeks out bad guys who treat her badly but that's just guesswork because it isn't in the movie. She insists she loves Pinkie, but there's nothing to love. There isn't one good thing you could say about him; he's an interesting character but an unbelievable love interest. In the background, Mirren and Hurt flounder for something to do.
The Brighton Beach battles between the Mods and Rockers take a back seat too. Joffe's updating of the era goes off without a problem, and he makes the pier itself look magical, but the reason for the update (and the remake in general) remains vague. If it was to incorporate those legendary running battles it isn't strong enough, as they don't really feature.

Review by Gavin Burke