Frank drank way too much Vimto
Frank (Richard Coyle) is making a
comfortable living selling class A’s on the London club scene. However, he soon
grows weary of the small-time and begins to engineer deals that could see his
stock rise significantly. He is determined to become more than a pawn in the
drug pushers cut throat game of chess but will have to overcome a few dangerous
obstacles first. The path to hefty financial gain is littered with pitfalls and
if Frank doesn’t play it right his meteoric rise will be very short lived...
No Rest for the Wicked
“Pusher”
is a direct remake of Nicolas Winding Refn’s 1996 cult classic of the same name;
only this time it gets the East-End treatment. Cue the stereotypes. First time director Luis Prieto brings plenty
of panache to the production only to see it fall painfully short in other more
important areas. Stylistically the film is sound. Preito uses vivid shades of
purple and yellow to give it a fashionable aesthetic and Orbital’s hypnotic
score, quite clearly inspired by Refn’s Drive,
provides a nice recurrent beat to head-bob to. The camera work also gets the
nod as it finds a nice balance between style and simplicity. It is flat yet not
entirely dull and the pacing grabs at us, ensuring we retain some sort of focus
for the whole production. However, for a film to keep its head above the water
in this overcooked genre it needs to have guts, and this is where “Pusher”
proves to be lacking the goods.
From the
get-go the film offers a cliché riddled portray of East- End gangsterism where
obscenity and stereotypes are used as lazy substitutes for tight scripts and
originality. Frank’s right hand man Tony (Bronson Webb) embodies this
particular notion and he ensures the opening 10 minutes are littered with a
plethora of “F**ks”, “W**kers” and even the occasional “C**t”. Of course, foul
mouth-ery and films of this nature go hand-in-hand but on this particular occasion
it is nothing short of cringe inducing. The film continues to display a stomach
churning sense of juvenility throughout, with the appearance of Tony’s
genitalia on Facebook providing the films nadir. You’d be excused for thinking
you were watching an episode of Skins.
Can you imagine that happening to Ray Winstone or Bob Hoskins? No, me neither.
The main
antagonists, who of course rein from Eastern Europe, are a border line parody
act; with Zlatko Buric's greasy haired drugs boss handing out baking tips at
one point. Their character profiles look like they were stolen from a Grand
Theft Auto game. Fairly pathetic stuff. One of the few characters whose depth does
seem to go beyond face value is the ambiguous escort Flo (Deyn) who emanates
a sense of profound lost-ness that is engrossing to watch.
Ultimately,
the films substance does not match its style and there a very few moments that prove
unpredictable and engaging. One particular sequence that does provide a gritty
juxtaposition to the films shiny exterior involves a desperate old drug addict
and a shotgun. However, moments like this are far and few between. After some
steady pacing throughout the ending also feels rushed, with its last ditch
attempt at surprising us falling painfully short. By the end of it all Frank
feels more like Derek Trotter than Tony Montana.
Pusher is
another below-par addition to the saturated English Crime genre that lacks Layer Cake’s inherent coolness and Sexy Beast’s character depth. Whilst the
film can at times be visually arresting its content is about as exciting as a
ham sandwich.
2 and
a half stars.
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