CovidKing

I may be a little gun hoe but god this film reminds me of Snatch. It’s true that not all British films are the same but there are similarities here. For example, Timothy Spall (Clifford Cullen) is a very similar emulation of the infamous Snatch character Brick Topp (Alan Ford). Also, its depiction of London/England is very similar with its seedy underbelly, corruption and of course unlicensed boxing. Though there are some stark differences. Firstly Ron Scalpelo (director) does not have the technical finesse or style that Guy Ritchie has. Secondly Sam Claflin is no Jason Statham or Brad Pitt, the opposite actually, he is a charismatic black hole that makes me completely resent the protagonist in the film. Finally, The Corrupted is not some enthralling heist movie, it a by the numbers cop/political/family drama where an ex con (Liam McDonagh – Sam Claflin) is encompassed in this world of drugs, brotherly love and corruption (roll end credits). There are some bright spots though. I love the context in which the film was set in. The backdrop of the London Olympics made the film more real and is that alternate history **** that I love. It was a consistent motif but I did wish it went deeper, maybe Usain Bolt is corrupted. As mentioned above, I really enjoyed Spall’s performance, he was the technical lynchpin, a seedy, greedy man and I wish the film was more him and less Claflin. But these bright spots aren’t enough to save the movie, and if you don’t fill the movie with entertaining action sequences which there are not many, then you’re stuck with a bit of a dull watch. I also need to point out how bad the cops were in this film. The main two played by Noel Clarke and Charlie Murphy might be some of the most poorly written (script by Nick Moorcroft) and dully acted performances I have seen. I blame everyone for this, because besides Claflin, you’re supposed to want the Clarke character (Neil Beckett) to win, but in the end all you want is for him to get shot. This actually adds atop a much larger point, I don’t care about anyone in this. It really doesn’t matter if you want to good guy or bad guy to win, but you should care about something. It’s like going to a footy match where you have no emotional investment, in the end you just get drunk and you don’t care. None-the-less The Corrupted is a film that has clearly is. It is at times corrupted of originality, technical marvel and most importantly enjoyment. In these times of crisis don’t rent this movie, just watch Snatch again and just remember how good British action films can actually be.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]