Hackney’s Finest ** (2014, Nathanael Wiseman, Arin Alldridge, Enoch Frost, Marlon G Day) – Movie Review

Director Chris Bouchard’s typical Guy Ritchie-style London lowlife thriller stars Nathanael Wiseman as small-time drug-dealer Sirus. He lands himself in big trouble when he gets caught up in the plan of bent East London cop Priestly (Arin Alldridge) to steal a consignment of Afghan smack meant for Welsh-Jamaican Yardies.

Can Sirus and his Welsh-Jamaican buddies Tony (Enoch Frost) and B (Marlon G Day) end up alive and holding the drugs?

Some fresh ideas and good lines in Thorin Seex‘s rough-hewn script and some bright performances in there somewhere help to bail out this self-styled drug-fuelled night of mayhem and ineptitude in East London. At least the Welsh-Jamaican Yardies angle feels fresh and Frost and Day have fun with it and their characters.

The 18 certificate is a bit of a warning that it’s very nasty in places, so fans of this kind of movie may be well satisfied. Fans of subtle film-making can look elsewhere. There seem to be far, far too many unhealthy weapons shown in a London setting, and it plays like a sadistically minded, jokey Western.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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