Colin Farrell, Ray Winstone & Keira Knightley Star in LONDON BOULEVARD → On Demand Weekly

Colin Farrell, Ray Winstone & Keira Knightley Star in LONDON BOULEVARDNovember 09, 2011

IFC Films

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: LONDON BOUELVARD (IFC Films).

LONDON BOULEVARD

By Chris Claro

Just a few months after Rowan Joffe’s adaptation of Graham Greene’s BRIGHTON ROCK comes another noirish English gangster tale based on a novel. LONDON BOULEVARD, adapted from the novel by Ken Bruen, is the directorial debut of William Monahan, screenwriter of THE DEPARTED and BODY OF LIES.

In addition to tone, LONDON BOULEVARD shares with BRIGHTON ROCK the use of a number of 60s hits on the soundtrack. Where they squared with the time period of Joffe’s film, Monahan’s is contemporary, and the songs, by bands such as the Rolling Stones and the Box Tops, help LONDON BOULEVARD hark back to the angry young man films of the early 60s. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the film’s opening sequence in which Mitchel (Colin Farrell, IN BRUGES) is being released from prison to the strains of the Yardbirds’ “Heart Full of Soul.” The instantly recognizable guitar riff is an apt, driving counterpoint to Mitchel being welcomed back to the world by his mate, Billy (Ben Chaplin, ME AND ORSON WELLES).

Billy sees Mitchel’s return as an opportunity to get the band back together, but Mitchel is slightly keener on avoiding another prison stretch. To that end, he gets a job as a bodyguard and driver to the reclusive Charlotte (Keira Knightley, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN), an actress whose every move is recorded by paparazzi staked out near her house. Her only connection to the outside world is her weed-addled fixer, Jordan (David Thewlis, HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE). Naturally, Mitchel’s efforts to stay straight are thwarted, by both Billy and his boss, the brutal and ruthless gangster Gant (Ray Winstone, BEOWULF). Just as naturally, Mitchel and Charlotte, two lost souls, find solace in each other’s arms, which can only portend trouble.

While LONDON BOULEVARD looks and sounds stylish, its wan, clichéd plot makes it a bit of a yawner. While there’s comfort in the tropes of gangster noir, a filmmaker has to bring something new to the party, a personal perspective that informs the material. Monahan appears to be going through the motions, stocking his film with pretty people, nice cars, and lots of atmosphere without imbuing his story with anything novel or original.

Where Monahan does largely succeed is with his actors. Farrell is all coiled energy and threat, marking his turf among London’s underground with an explosive ferocity, even as he shows true tenderness in the halting, tentative relationship Mitchel develops with Charlotte. Knightley, as bewitchingly beautiful as ever, makes the pain of Charlotte’s privileged, cloistered existence the character’s raison d’etre. Winstone is effective, if unsurprising, essaying the umpteenth variation on his menacing gangland boss.

Among all the performances, Thewlis’s deserves special mention. The actor makes Jordan both lackadaisical and formidable at the same moment. Whether he’s dispatching an unwanted handyman or sharing sordid tales of Charlotte’s past, Jordan is the most fully realized character in the film, lingering on its periphery one moment and slyly assuming center stage the next.

While by no means a poorly made film, LONDON BOULEVARD is an uninspired jaunt into a world that’s been explored to death. By adhering to the expected, Monahan misses an opportunity to pump some life into a moribund genre. But Farrell and Knightley are fun to watch and Thewlis is absolutely outstanding. If you’re a fan of the stars, make a stop at LONDON BOULEVARD hits. All others keep walking.

- Chris Claro

Chris
Chris Claro is a contributing writer to On Demand Weekly. He is a former Director of Promotion for Sundance Channel and now works as a writer, producer, and media educator. He is a regular contributor to dvdverdict.com and contributor to the Eyes and Ears section of huffingtonpost.com