Shiner ** (2000, Michael Caine, Martin Landau, Frances Barber, Frank Harper, Andy Serkis, Matthew Marsden) – Classic Movie Review 5540

Michael Caine does his usual decent job as ruthless, shady boxing promoter Shiner Simpson, who, while being investigated by the cops and staging a big fight, vows to wreak revenge on the men who murder his champion 20-year-old son, Eddie (Matthew Marsden).

But John Irvin’s 2000 British thriller is a weak, cliché-ridden, slackly handled, uncomfortable South London boxing melodrama, with Caine more or less virtually the sole point of interest. Sad to say that esteemed Martin Landau is surprisingly rotten as the visiting American rival entrepreneur, Frank Spedding, and so is Kenneth Cranham as Gibson, though Frank Harper is much better as Stoney.

The film tries to revisit Caine’s iconic Sixties world of Alfie and Seventies world of Get Carter to little avail. With the screenplay by Scott Cherry, it is supposed inspired by King Lear, but you would hardly know: best off seeing My Kingdom.

Also in the cast are Frances Barber, Frank Harper, Andy Serkis, Claire Rushbrook, Danny Webb, David Kennedy, Peter Wight, Nicola Walker, Derrick Harmon, Josephine Butler, Malcolm Tierney, Helen Grace, Gary Lewis, Joe Montana, Winston Ellis and Joanna Wake.

It is rated 18 or R for strong violence, pervasive strong language and some nudity.

It is one of Caine’s five movies with producer Geoffrey Reeve, also including Half Moon Street (1986), The Whistle Blower (1986), Shadow Run (1998), and Quicksand (2003).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5540

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