London Boulevard

After winning an Oscar for his screenplay for Departed - Among Enemies, William Monahan now tries his hand at directing in the genre of the hard-hitting gangster film. Based on the novel of the same name by Ken Bruen, Monahan delivers a top-notch thriller with London Boulevard that boasts some excellent moments, but also some minor flaws.

In the gangster film, Colin Farrell plays Mitchel, a criminal who is released from prison after three years and hopes to finally start a new life. But after only a few steps in freedom, his past catches up with him again and stubbornly tries to lead him astray once more. When Mitchel meets the shy actress Charlotte (Keira Knightley) by chance, everything might turn out for the better after all. For Mitchel manages to get hired as a janitor and bodyguard at the movie launch. But when his former boss, the underworld boss Gant (Ray Winstone) shows up and makes Mitchel an offer, which he rejects with thanks, he starts a spiral of violence, which could fall victim to everyone in his immediate environment.

The mixture of romantic drama, bloody thriller, spiced with dry humor and a good dose of coolness, makes London Boulevard despite some hangers absolutely worth seeing. Besides the (at least in the original English version) good dialogues, especially the actors make sure that the film turns out so entertaining. While Colin Farrell delivers a rather taciturn and reserved, but therefore very fitting performance, the supporting cast includes a wonderfully crazy David Thewlis and a beefy Ray Winstone, who is perfectly cast as an ice-cold gangster boss. Smaller roles are also well cast with actors like Eddie Marsan, Ophelia Lovibond and Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies). Only Keira Knightley remains a little pale. However, this may also be due to her role, because the romance between Mitchel and Charlotte, even though it definitely has an important purpose within the whole, is probably the weakest aspect of the story. This is certainly not due to the chemistry between Farrell and Knightley, which is definitely there, but rather the script. For it seems that Monahan put all his creativity into the gangster aspect of his directorial debut, and thus there was hardly ANYTHING left for the romance.

Although the finale is a little too reminiscent of the bloody ending of Departed - Among Enemies, without admittedly reaching the class of Martin Scorsese's Oscar winner, the bottom line is that London Boulevard has become a successful gangster thriller that is guaranteed to satisfy genre fans despite minor hang-ups. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp