Another month, another low-rent British gangster thriller.
Like Circus/Rancid Aluminium/Gangster Number 1/Love Honour and Obey et al, Charlie is a poorly made Tarantino rip-off that plays more like a rushed GCSE media project than classics like Reservoir Dogs or Kill Bill. Tarantino's genius lies in his masterful balancing of razor-sharp dialogue, eye-popping style and brilliant storytelling technique. Charlie, on the other hand, features leaden expletive-ridden dialogue, unimaginative violence and mockney posers in cheap suits.
The film's argument is extremely one-sided. The storytelling is scattershot and confused. It's not a film that the audience can ever really 'get into'. Because of this, watching the film becomes very tiresome. Every cliche imaginable is used, often several times.
Luke Goss comes across more like an angry Grattan's Catalogue model than a hard-as-nails gangster, although at times he shows some potential. In a better movie he could be an actor to watch. Charlie isn't that movie. The rest of the cast are uniformly weak.
The film's violence is excessive, and handled in a very childish way. It's like the director wants to shock the audience, but makes the mistake of going to the extent to which we lose any sympathy with Goss' character.
Attempts at humour are poorly handled and are actually offensive - one 'gag' in particular is extremely racist and condescending.
I'd give this film 1 out of 10. Watch The Krays instead - it's a lot better than this.
Like Circus/Rancid Aluminium/Gangster Number 1/Love Honour and Obey et al, Charlie is a poorly made Tarantino rip-off that plays more like a rushed GCSE media project than classics like Reservoir Dogs or Kill Bill. Tarantino's genius lies in his masterful balancing of razor-sharp dialogue, eye-popping style and brilliant storytelling technique. Charlie, on the other hand, features leaden expletive-ridden dialogue, unimaginative violence and mockney posers in cheap suits.
The film's argument is extremely one-sided. The storytelling is scattershot and confused. It's not a film that the audience can ever really 'get into'. Because of this, watching the film becomes very tiresome. Every cliche imaginable is used, often several times.
Luke Goss comes across more like an angry Grattan's Catalogue model than a hard-as-nails gangster, although at times he shows some potential. In a better movie he could be an actor to watch. Charlie isn't that movie. The rest of the cast are uniformly weak.
The film's violence is excessive, and handled in a very childish way. It's like the director wants to shock the audience, but makes the mistake of going to the extent to which we lose any sympathy with Goss' character.
Attempts at humour are poorly handled and are actually offensive - one 'gag' in particular is extremely racist and condescending.
I'd give this film 1 out of 10. Watch The Krays instead - it's a lot better than this.