Meadows earns his “Scorsese of the Midlands” tag with eruptions of striking brutality. And the supremely unnerving Considine is his De Niro.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 16, 2023

Arguably a career-best from British director Shane Meadows, this is an unrelenting revenge fantasy with a powder keg performance from Considine at its core.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 2, 2021

One is confronted here with an extraordinary level of artistic and social unconsciousness.

| Feb 15, 2021

Newcomer Toby Kebbell gives a dignified performance that includes all the stereotypical tics and smirks, however, the performance constantly feels real.

| Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 5, 2020

Darkness and light co-exist throughout the film. By the end, we understand the only way for the light to shine on is if we can come to terms with the darkness in our hearts.

| Original Score: 5/5 | May 6, 2019

A very competent technical director replicating scenes of formulaic visual tableaux, all in the service of a slightly juvenile vigilante narrative.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 12, 2018

An original, complex, and utterly gruesome revenge parable...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 4, 2007

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| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 21, 2007

Isn't a mess, but it's sure no competition for Winchester 73, Once Upon a Time in the West or even Kill Bill, films in which payback really is a bitch.

| Mar 1, 2007

Startlingly powerful, slightly loopy take on the revenge flick . . . offers a wry authenticity that the too-stylish, tough guys and gals in Tarantino's wanna-be-epics of retribution can't exude.

Full Review | Feb 1, 2007

The film is further proof that revenge, even when served as a cold dish as this is, ends up being far too chewy for a satisfying movie meal

| Nov 10, 2006

What's intriguing is that Meadows makes us identify with these small-time hoods, even as he's setting up their executions.

| Oct 13, 2006

Film plays as a quirky Brit riff on everything from U.S. slasher pics to revenge oaters but without Meadows' usual psychological complexity.

| Aug 4, 2006

Though Meadows makes a lot of it, he mucks it up before it's over.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Aug 4, 2006

In a swift 86 minutes, director Meadows and co-writer/star Considine give us a methodical, handsome, emotionally intelligent version of the revenge flick.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 21, 2006

The whole thing leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jul 7, 2006

Despite the fact that there is little left to the imagination, the movie is enthralling.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 1, 2006

Atuaes formidveis (especialmente de Considine) em um filme moralmente ambguo que, ao mesmo tempo em que funciona como maravilhosa releitura de Carter, o Vingador, analisa a natureza retroalimentadora da violncia.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jun 11, 2006

What makes it intriguing and eminently watchable is Considine's deft almost low-key portrayal of what is essentially an avenging angel.

Full Review | Original Score: B | May 30, 2006

In the end, the picture's more pulp than juice.

| Original Score: C | May 20, 2006