Has all the hallmarks of being written, directed and filmed by year 7 at your local high school. Absolute piffle.

Pretty good. The character development, especially that last phase, doesn't fully track, but lot's of great work to make up for this. 3.75/5

This film started off well with some great performances but when it skips 30 years forward it rapidly goes down hill. It doesn't make sense that Bettanys character is later played McDowell whilst all the other characters are played by the same actors. The main character is now a completely different person not only physically but his whole demeanor. Like the link to horse racing within the movie it, 'Started strong but run out of steam in the final furlong!'

In the end the casting got in the way. Paul Bettany is miscast as a cockernee and McDowell playing Bettany’s older self, plays it without any charm or charisma. Thewlis is top draw but like the film itself he ends up a sniveling shadow of what he was and the film ends up without anything to redeem it. The beautiful flat in, Barbican? Steals the show

Half decent acting but terrible plot with an anticlimactic ending. If you want a decent British gangster film there are plenty of much better options out there.

Violent, as you might expect, although we are spared the worst moments. The story though? I can't make up my mind. The narrative is quite familiar, but some some common stereotypes are avoided (eg the main character doesn't get, or even try to get, the girl) and this is welcome. Malcolm McDowell and Paul Bettany are both excellent as the most unpleasant man you could imagine, but his lack of class does wear you down after a while; you just want someone to polish him off. He does, though, have some inner torment that emerges at the end.

Definireky one of the best London gangster films. Avoids the glamour - it's lonely at the top. Some brilliant performances. Def one to watch again - saw it years ago, now on Netflix.

Bizarre. Why are Netflix promoting it as new when released 23 years ago? Very violent, but inconsequential, really. Odd to have MacDowell playing Paul Bethany as an older man but Thewlis the same. Found it very confusing.

Loved it. So compelling and super violent. Great acting and a great soundtrack too. A must watch for gangster movie fans.

How can ‘top critic' criticise this for being ‘soulless'?! That's EXACTLY what it was meant to be all about - being a gangster can't be glamorous most of the time. This is an absolute belter of a gritty, period Bristish gangster film. Brilliant acting, sets and script. Of course, if you were expecting an American stylised version of what it's like to be a criminal (Heat etc) then jog on…………

This film plays more like a horror movie. A truly underrated classic. Bettany is on top form!

Definitely one of the best British films. Paul Bettany is amazing, and surprisingly genuinely creepy!

British Gangster film that is anchored by Paul Bettany (Young) and Malcolm McDowell (Old) playing the lead character "Gangster 55". David Thewlis is pretty good as Freddie Mays. It gets a little off the tracks at the end of the film, but overall it was a decent movie.

An ambitious gangster's aspirations. Also Jarvis was left hand man to Professor Lupin.

Underated and probably too violent and sweary for general release. Looks like a play on screen, which it is. In this case, it works. There is a dark Shakespearean edge to the narrative and characters. Casting is outstanding and technically, the film is strong. Powerful, but not for the faint hearted. Spectacular performances by the principals. Watch it if you dare! A strong contribution to the genre. If you liked A Long Good Friday, then this for you.

not overly impressed

With not so much more, could have been way better! Gangster No.1 is lost in a limbo between a quirky and a classic work. Just like the main character, doesn't know what it want to be. Wants to be something else, but again like Malcolm McDowell, it just cannot find the way.

Great tone throughout and great cast.

A middle-aged crime boss (Malcolm McDowell) smugly reflects back from 1999, narrating the brutality which made him triumphant - and feared. As an unnamed young hood (Paul Bettany) in Swinging 60's London, he comes to the attention of a very influential London gangster, Freddie Mays (David Thewlis), who recruits him to be an enforcer. The Gangster is eager to please, and while his violent actions at first dismay Mays, he soon proves his loyalty to Mays with creative ways of murder. However, the Gangster quickly becomes obsessed with and deeply jealous of Mays' glamorous lifestyle and success and he is scheming to become Gangster No. 1. The Gangster soon discovers that Mays' main rival, Lennie Taylor (Jamie Foreman), is planning on killing Mays. Instead of warning his boss, the Gangster decides to let the attack take place, killing the only other member of his own gang who knew of the impending attack. It goes on as planned, and the Gangster sits in a car nearby to watch as Lennie and his gang shoot and stab Mays and slit the throat of his fiancée, Karen (Saffron Burrows). Later that same night the Gangster goes to Lennie's flat, shoots him in the leg, and then tortures him to death. The Gangster discovers the following day that Mays did not die in the attack, and is hospitalised. Upon his recovery, Mays is unjustly convicted of Taylor's murder and sent to prison for a 30-year sentence. With Mays out of his way, the Gangster becomes leader of the gang and consolidates his power over the city's underworld. But, when Mays is finally released on 1999, The Gangster simply can´t get over the fact that Mays never respected him and the crime empire he has built. He seeks a confrontation... Gangster No. 1 is a stylish, brutal and black drama with comic undertones, but it also tries to be a hip crime-flick showing us the past and the present in one package. It´s hardly an original set up, the gangster genre has been so diluted since "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", with the young gangster trying to take over the older gangster´s empire. Paul Bettany´s performance stands out and he manages to be menacing, extremely violent and off his rockers. While Malcolm McDowell adds weight to the film, I personally think that he doesn´t manage to channelise Bettany´s gangster into an older version as they seems to be different in many ways (height, looks, voice etc). The crazy, electric, calculating and vicious gangster is gone, maybe due to age, but it doesn´t really add up. And I hear too much Alex de Large in Malcolm McDowell´s narrative. Plus the final confrontation ends in nothing special. I reckon you´d think that it would be more explosive. Or that´s just what the filmmaker wanted. The gangster simply never got a conclusion with his rivalry towards Mays and what he did to Mays. And the homage to James Cagney doesn´t fully work. "Gangster No. 1" is ok, but maybe adds not that much new to the genre.

Malcolm McDowell, Malcolm "facking" McDowell