Ray is an aging ex-socialist who has become a bankrobber after seeing the demise of socialism in 1980s Britain. Teaming up with a gang of other has-beenish crims, he commits one bank job too many. The gang dissolves in a murderous flurry of recriminations.
Acting
Carlyle and Winstone sweating pure desperation in every scene.
Direction
Bird's raw, unglamorous crime that refuses to look cool.
Writing
Dialogue so authentically aggro you'll need subtitles.
Director
Antonia Bird
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Damon Albarn's acting debut — the Blur frontman allegedly took the role after a bet.
Antonia Bird was one of few women directing British crime cinema; her socialist politics deliberately undermine the genre's usual romanticism of working-class criminals.
GB
