Film Review: The Crew

An intense new British ganster movie. It's bloodier than Rise of the Foot Soldier and more brutal than The Football Factory.

Elijah Lawal

It seems that there is a common theme in most gangster movies these days. It goes like this: The leader of a gang, who runs a tight and very profitable ship eventually grows a conscience and decides to get out of the game while he still can. Unfortunately, this doesn’t go down well with the young whippersnappers in the group, who decide to rebel. The leader then has a choice – does he bow out of the game gracefully and lose all of his valuable and well earned street cred? Or does he come back for one last score while showing the young’uns a thing or two about why the old ways are the best.

This is more or less the theme in ‘The Crew’; a film adaptation of Kevin Sampson’s crime thriller, Outlaws. This story takes place in the hard streets of and involves a family of criminals led by the mastermind, Ged. Ged finds the score, sets up the job and plans all the details.

This simple method of management is what keeps this crew on top of the criminal food chain. But Ged is old school. He believes in the age old principle of honour amongst thieves and is content with being a big fish in a small pond. His younger brother Ratter however, is the complete opposite. Young, overconfident and impetuous, he seeks to get out from under his brother’s feet and run the crew himself. Naturally he gets himself and the crew into a lot of trouble and Ged has to use his street smarts to not only pull off a job that will set them up for a long time but also to prevent an impending gang war.

The plot is a little predictable with violence overkill and plenty of gratuitous sexual content, but the real jewels of this film are the characters. What this film lacks in plot spontaneity, it more than makes up for in the depth of its characters. You almost feel a connection to them as there seems to be a subtle but rational explanation to even their most rash actions.

The best character by far is Moby – the de facto enforcer of the group. He is simply a good natured, fun loving pervert who seems to like nothing more than pushing the limits of perversity. His escapades with Sticky Sue, a prostitute with an almost similar inexhaustible appetite for all things perverse are guaranteed to make you both laugh out loud and cringe.

All in all, this is a quite an enjoyable movie. If you like Guy Ritchie movies, The Krays, Sexy Beast – then this is definitely one for you. However, I eagerly await an injection of new life into British gangster movies (last seen in Sexy Beast) instead of constant imitations of the same old plots. 

THE CREW is available to buy on DVD on 12 January 2009

The DVD Extras

* 'Making of' featurette
* Audio Commentary with Adrian Vitoria, Scot Williams, Kenny Doughty
* Music Video
* Deleted Scenes
* Behind the Scenes - 25 Days of Filming, shown in 5 minutes
* Feeder Music Video
* ZZZ Music Video