Brighton Rock (2010)

Let's start by saying this -- and those who've known me and read my blog posts over the years already know: remakes are almost always unnecessary. Yes, you can say, on occasion, that a film is not a remake but a new attempt at translating a certain source material to the big screen. Sure. And Brighton Rock -- the original classic film -- was made in a time when it couldn't perhaps be as gritty as it should have. Maybe.

So someone decided to make a new one.

But they've moved the action to the 1960s, to coincide with the legendary mods 'n' rockers clashes on the beach in Brighton. This pointless change (with no real impact on the plot) was clearly only made in an attempt to bring in young mod or scooter kids who wouldn't otherwise go and see this film.

Oh, I don't really know where to start...

The acting is awful, with one or two exceptions. By far the best turn of the bunch comes from Andy Serkis. He has a lovely naturalness to him that absolutely nobody else does in this film. Second best is Helen Mirren, looking like a million-dollar fox but, sadly, in the later scenes given nothing but a silly and frankly unbelievable chase scene. Her performance is fine, given the material she had to work with.

Everyone else is just mugging like their lives depend on it, the worst offenders being the two leads.

The drama is just nonexistent. Just... there is nothing thrilling about this film. It is blah and dead and lacking in character and action and soul. Fifty-five minutes in, I was ready to turn it off, to be honest.

I can't be arsed to waste more words, so I'll score this movie 20 out of 100.