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GANGSTER NO. 1 Send This Review to a Friend
How much violence can you take? "Gangster No. 1" is a film that tests your stamina in the face of almost non-stop brutality between posturing, competing thugs, none of whom is even vaguely sympathetic.
The action shifts back and forth between the present, when David Thewlis as the once-vicious Freddie Mays is coming out of prison and the early days in the 1960s when he ruled the London underworld with a lethal crew. There are scores to settle, but now the top man is known as Gangster, played menacingly by Malcolm McDowell, who was Mays's protégé, the younger version played by Paul Bettany.
The story is told from Gangster's perspective, with McDowell giving a blunt narration that's interesting in itself as a reminder of McDowell powerful, seductive narration as the young punk in "A Clockwork Orange." He is still a dynamic actor who can dominate the screen, but the better the acting, the more obnoxious the character becomes in this film. Saffron Burrows plays Karen, the beauty who triggers jealousy and resentment between Freddie and Gangster.
There's no question that "Gangster No. 1" is a sharply directed first feature by Paul McGuigan with a taut screenplay by Johnny Ferguson. It is well shot and well edited. The cast is first rate, the ambience realistic. But there is such wallowing in violence and sadistic behavior without adding anything to the gangster genre that the film is nerve-jangling and off-putting. I left wondering who needs it. An IFCFilms release.
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