Three men have been victimised in a way the law is hopeless to address. Dekker (Dyer) is beaten up in the street while his fiancee (Lumley) looks on; Munroe (James) is a lawyer attacked for prosecuting a criminal; and Sandy (Friend) is the victim of a vicious homophobic attack. They link up with a fed-up cop (Hoskins), a security nerd (Harris) and a former soldier (Bean) to even up the score. And their vigilante efforts are praised by the British public, even as the police hunt them down. But they disagree about how far to take things.

The culture of random, vicious violence is something both intriguing and essential as a film subject, as is the media's sensationalistic coverage of violence and the general public's support for celebrity criminals. While Love touches on these ideas, and even plays meaningfully with them in the film's opening half, the overall story merely drifts into a pointless crime thriller as it goes along. Meaty themes slip away, character conflicts are dealt with simplistically (or incoherently), and as the action cranks up the film becomes increasingly lifeless.

The cast continue to deliver committed performances all the way through. While Dyer is strangely muted in what feels like an underwritten (but central) role, Bean and James dig deeply to create men with a sense of internal turmoil. The chemistry between these mismatched losers works well on screen, even though it's never properly developed, especially where Friend's iconic victim and Harris' too-gung-ho creep fit in.

Love shows a strong progression as a director here, with some cool visual moves thanks partly to Sam McCurdy's sleek cinematography and David Julyan's purring score. His skills as a filmmaker have improved notably from project to project, so it's a shame the plot here feels so haphazard, especially since it has the bare bones of a much better, and much more vital film.

themes, language, strong violence

17.Jan.07