Gangster No. 1
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Movie Reviews of Gangster No. 1
Movie Review: ORIGINAL RECYCLING
Summary: 3 Stars
Gangster No1 offers nothing new in either ganster cinema or British cinema. What it does offer is an incredible performance from Paul Bettany, a skillful recycling of classic gangster pictures like 'Scarface' and 'Pulp Fiction', a few invigorating scenes of sardonic violence, very much in the tradition of 'Lock Stock...' and even 'Trainspotting', and a confident directorial grip, one that allowed Malcolm MacDowell once again attempt to return to his 'clockwork' form. Too bad the film doesn't belong to MacDowell, who appears as the aged protagonist briefly in the beginning and end of the film. Maybe it is for the better though, because at the end is when the film crumbles heavily under MacDowell's heavy rantings, while Paul Bettany, who plays the young gangster, is truly astonishing as a man hired by a mob boss and striving to gain his power. Sounds familiar? No doubt - that's good ol' 'Scarface', almost scene by scene, yet though Bettany pays homage with his lack of likeable qualities and ceaseless, demented determination to similar qualities that Pacino's Montana possessed, the young actor manages to twist it a little, distance it from the ferociousness of 'Scarface' by adding an element of poignancy to it. Consider the scene where he tortures someone, having turned up contrastively happy music. 'Reservoir Dogs', anyone? Yeah, but here we get the POV of the MAN being tortured - we're hooked.While offering nothing new and trodding off into dull, repetitive and predictable territory at its 80-minute mark, 'Gangster No1' mostly manages to avoid cliches while still being cliched, and is definitely worth watching for Bettany's powerhouse acting.
The film is enthusiastic. The crew's love for the project is palpable. The director must have nurtured it for a while before he could watch his creation on the silver screen.
Movie Review: Very average
Summary: 3 Stars
Okay, I love gangster movies. The Untouchables, from DePalma, Casino and Goodfellas, from Scorsese, The Godfather (the whole series) from Coppola...even Hoodlum, from Bill Duke...Gangster No.1 goes in that range of films, but it's not as good. I'm ashamed to say that, except for Clockwork Orange, I haden't seen a lot of movies featuring Malcolm MacDowell...but maybe it's normal considering the quality of his films today (Island of The Dead, for example). But the Mr.MacDowell I knew in one of my all-time favorites, Clockwork Orange, was splendid, full of talent. The MacDowell in Gangster No.1 was pretty good, but that's not enough...David Thewlis wasn't always good either, except at the end. This film mostly happens in 1968, but it passes through 31 years, up to 1999...what is sad about that is that we see what happens in detail during 1968, but we show brief sequences for the other years, and many are simply skipped. The problem here is that we follow a young gangster, full of ambition, with absolutely no heart feelings, that finally gets to his goal, but the film stops showing his evolution right after he starts it, and skips to his final situation. This could have been three hours long, but it's only 103 minutes. That's not enough for a gangster movie that has so much to say. The film contains some brutal violence, like any good gangster movie, but they put it in needless contexts, and it's mostly pretty gratuitous. The message is pretty clear in this film, and the character of Freddie Mays has an interesting mind twist that brings it to an ending that is intense, true, but that could have been even better. The film had more potential. The film tells a story, but rushes some parts too evidently, and that ruins it. It's not a bad movie, but it's not great either.Movie Review: Malcom McDowell is one scary guy
Summary: 3 Stars
In this movie we have Malcom McDowell as the number one gangster in a mean, grimy England. Life is sweet but his old boss Freddie Mays has gotten out of jail after a 30 year stint. This sends Malcom into a tizzy and we get a long flashback. Paul Bettany plays the gangster as a young man and he does it well. He looks a lot like McDowell did in Clockwork Orange. He's also got a dead eyed feral look that is just as scary as Malcom's.
The young gangster worked for Freddie Mays, idolized him, and wants to be just like him and hates him on some level too. Later in the movie you get the impression that he doesn't just want to be Freddie, he wants to be WITH Freddie. Still, these half focused feelings are controlled until Freddie meets a girl and gets seriously involved with her. Young gangster snaps. He commits a particularly nasty murder, goes after the girlfriend and takes Freddie's empire.
Gangster Number 1 is extremely violent, bloody and has more profanity than a Deadwood episode. In other words, it's not for the kids or the tender minded. It's not a great movie. I wouldn't go as far as to call it a good one either. And it goes on for about 20 minutes too long but McDowell and Bettany do give memorable performances.
Movie Review: Not your typical Gangster Movie
Summary: 3 Stars
The first hour of the movie starts out as your typical ganster movie. It is entertaining and you have the familiar set-up of introducing a bunch of really tough guys and showing you examples of how tough they are. This part was not very original, however, if you like Gangster movies you should enjoy it. It started getting interesting when the main character turned out to be really quite a bit more evil than previously imagined. He cut up and tortured a man and didn't finish him off until he really suffered. This scene was quite graphic and if you didn't cringe something is wrong with you. The rest of the movie distinguished itself from other ganster movies in that the main character was crazy and felt incomplete despite rising to the top of the mob world. People who generally like ganster movies may prefer the first half of this movie while people who prefer Clockwork Orange, Natural Born Killers and other movies will prefer the second half.Movie Review: Gangster No.1
Summary: 3 Stars
The Older Malcom Mcdowell looks more sinister than the young one,and he kind of reminds me of a fatter Sting. I like some of the movie,I thought it too romanticized (Or English English=Romanticised).I think it's not the violence that makes it over the top,but the poetic narration that makes it such boring hyperbole at times, I was expecting much tougher looking Gangsters the likes Of Vinnie Jone's Character etc. It's worth a look though.