Down Terrace - I think I watched a different film (twice)

I'm writing this review of Down Terrace after watching the film and experiencing a severe case of dejavu at the same time.

I hired it on the basis that I like gritty British gangster movies and I saw this one's trailer on another similar film. However, after about twenty minutes I got the distinct impression that I'd seen the film before, as I was predicting most of the scenes accurately. The reason for this was that I had seen it before. However, I had turned it off after about half an hour due to the fact that it was awful.

Somehow I had erased the memory of this film and then hired it out again thinking it was a different one (and, once again, duped by the trailer).

Now, I've looked on various movie-related websites and the reaction to Down Terrace is - overall - pretty positive. I don't know what it was about the film, but it just didn't do it for me.

It's about a family of gangsters who, two of which have just returned from Court, and now believe that there's a `mole' within the organisation.

Perhaps one thing that majorly bugged me was that none of the - supposed - gangsters really seemed like gangsters. Maybe I'm just used to Guy Ritchie's stereotypes, but this lot came across as a load of fat, middle-aged men who you'd find propping up the bar at a Working Man's club. They weren't in the least bit threatening (as you might expect a hardened gangster to be). As for the `black comedy' that was repeatedly mentioned in other reviews, I couldn't find any.

I forced myself to sit through the whole thing this time, hoping to find out what I was apparently missing. I couldn't see it myself. Just because a film is low budget, does not make it particularly good. I'm now writing this review in the hope that when I next watch the trailer for Down Terrace by accident, I don't think to myself `Ooh, that looks good, I think I'll watch it' and just remind myself that it's awful.

I hate to be all `overly commercial,' but I think I'll stick to Guy Ritchie's stylised representations of the London criminal underworld in future.

2/10 Scuzzier than the leftover goo from a Queen alien's egg sack