Customer Reviews

Face

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Antonia Bird brought us Priest, Ravenous and now brings us Face, I think her best work yet. It's a gritty thriller, placed in London about a group of armed robbers on the worst day of their lives. Only few will survive that day. Our main character Ray, played superbly by Robert Carlyle, is beginning to have second thoughts about life as a criminal. He was raised by his mother in a labor/left wing environment and has a hard time combining his background with his life as a gangster. We should also mention Ray Winstone, who plays Dave, Ray's main sidekick. Ray Winstone is the main antagonist in "Nil by mouth", another very gritty movie about life in Britain after Thatcher, where poverty, alcoholism and domestic violence go hand in hand. As in that movie, only Ray Winstone could have played the role of Dave in "Face". His portrayal of Dave is excellent, and as he gets himself more and more into trouble, you can see his character crumble. All in all it's one of the best movies I have seen in a very long time and I think that if you like the style of movies like "Nil by Mouth" or the "Cracker mysteries", you will not be disappointed.

Robert Carlyle has yet another opportunity to showcase his considerable talent in a great crime thriller. The movie opens with an excellent robbery scene that soon devolves into a clash of greed, personalities, and intrigue. The depth of characterization portrayed is far beyond the typical Hollywood production, and Carlyle is aided considerably by great performances from Ray Winstone, Leana Headley, and Steve Waddington. Britain is not a gun culture like the U.S., and toughness is more a case of mana, or 'face.' The interplay of unemployment, row homes, subsistence-level criminality, and the occasional big score play out to the film's closing moments that include a knuckle-biting burglary attempt inside a police station. 'Face' is one of the best Brit offerings in a decade. Also look out for a strong performance by Damon Albarn, lead singer of Blur and the Gorillaz, the world's greatest 2D band.

i saw this movie last night and thought it was fantastic. carlisle and winstone are great, and live up to their usual standards. the movie is kind of like 'reservoir dogs' as it deals with a hiest gone wrong, and the paranoia which follows. it also reminded me of a 'fawlty towers' episode in that every thing that could go wrong did go wrong, except there was no real humour in it. the pace of the movie worked really well, and i would say, in hindsight of my comparing it to 'reservoir dogs', that the characters were much deeper and thus the viewer is more emphatic towards their fate. a nicely suprising flick. watch it. and look out for the character julian, played by blur's damon albarn.

This film is a thriller of that new type that looks into the gang of criminals and reveals, little by little, that it is a very difficult job to be a criminal and to earn a good living out of it. You have your accomplices you cannot trust. You have those that are finks. You have those who are too greedy. You have those who are too weak to look after themselves. You have those who do not respect instruction. You also have the cops, your parents, your girl friends, you wives and children. What a hard life it is to be a criminal. It looks like some may have reached the right time to withdraw from all that business and retire into some kind of cocoon, far away and alone or nearly alone. The great point in this film is that there is womething new happening absolutely till the end of the film itself. In other words there is absolutely no end to the human ugliness of criminals with other criminals, and all criminals are of course not necessarily those we may think. But they sure must be strong people somewhere to survive such a mess, at least one has to be to survive the mess that crime is. A sad film somewhere but optimistic about the resilience of the human species.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Université Paris Dauphine, Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne

There is nothing new in the plot of Face, A group of armed robbers pull off a job and split the proceeds. Then things start to go wrong as the money disappears and the four robbers attempt to find out who has taken it. What makes this film watchable are the London setting and the performances of Ray Winstone and Phil Davies. Ray Winstone is superb as Dave, an face (known criminal) who is passed his prime and increasingly frustrated by his inabilty to control events. Phil Davies is also on top form as Julian, not Julie as he tells everyone, a pyscopath whose answer to every problem is to shoot someone.

An enjoyable scene is when Julian having been bundled into the trunck of a car attempts to negotiate a price with Dave and Ray (Robert Carlyle), even though they hold all the cards and may be going to kill him.

What lets this film down the character of Ray, a former left wing activist who has turned to violent crime. There is nothing wrong with Robert Carlyle's performance but the basis of the character is simply not believable. Neither is his girlfirend, a left wing social activist who lives with an armed robber, the ultimate example of free enterprise, it is just not believable.

Also given that these men are violent criminals do we really think that they should get away with the loot?

If the makers of this film had stuck with making a good gangster flic without adding all the social pretension it would have been a better film.

Antonia Bird delivers a stylish, adrenalin-driven action-thriller with Face. And the cast certainly boasts an impressive, phenomenal line-up with the ever-excellent Robert Carlyle as the "face", the always-brilliant Ray winstone delivering another power-packed performance, plus Philip Davis is a darkly humorous role, Blur singer Damon Albarn in his acting debut (and immediately impresses) and Steven Waddington, Lena Headey, Peter Vaughan and Sue Johnstone are all enthralling in their characterisations.

The plot goes that Ray the "face" (Robert Carlyle), having recently been released from prison, is now ready for the "big job", and the "last job" that will see Ray and his team of villians financially set up for life. However, though the job goes smoothly enough, the gang soon discover, much to their obvious dismay, that the "take" from the "job" falls far short of the £3,000,000 they had each anticipated. So follows a fraught tale of how the gang members begin gradually turning against each other, how paranoya escaltes out of control and greed takes over leading to murderous consequences.

There are plenty of surprise twist and turns to keep you glued throughout. The stylish, high octane action is always riviting to watch, not least at that intense, exciting climax. A film that keeps you in suspense, a stellar cast line-up that all shine their talents to full effect, and superb direction by Antonia Bird, Face defintely, therefore, gets an easy 5 star rating.
Ian Phillips
August 2009

If you love movies about heists, crime, and everything in between, I would definitely say, buy this movie. Robert Carlyle shows just how much of an amazing actor he is, and if you're a Damon Albarn fan, then you need to see his one and only acting debut. Just, the ending was a big surprise, because it keeps you guessing as to, where the money ended up. Definitely a good watch, 5 stars all the way.

I didn't remember the movie, but listening to this soundtrack I wanted to rent it again.....

This movie is a must see!!! It is non stop from beginning to end. I watched it one night on HBO and has been looking for it ever since. Glad I finally found the perfect movie to watch while at home for the night!!!! Please do yourself a favor and watch this movie!!! If I didn't have Netflix, I would buy it!!!

I didn't remember the movie, but listening to this soundtrack I wanted to rent it again.....