KNUCKLEDUST

Directed by: James Kermack

Starring: Moe Dunford, Kate Dickie, Amy Bailey, Jaime Winstone, Camille Rowe, Guillaume Delaunay, Dave Bibby, James Kermack

 When the police receive a tip-off of a massacre at the notorious Knuckledust club, they only find one person alive - Brodie, aka Hard Eight, who had turned on his erstwhile boss, the elusive Serena.

Knuckledust is another example of a director working off his own script and wanting to not compromise his "vision". Although the finished result is entertaining enough, it has stylistic issues and is at least 15 min too long.

This Is yet another film which feels it necessary to a) give its characters "jolly pirate names" and b) have each person's name come up as a caption on screen. This is a movie, not a powerpoint presentation - there are more filmic ways to introduce your characters.

A lot of the comedy seems very laboured as well, whether its two bickering hitmen or buffoonish characters like "not now nigel" or the tech police guy Hooper, its just silly rather than amusing, let alone actually funny.

This film is heavily influenced - to the point of saturation - by the likes of Kill Bill and The Usual Suspects - particularly the visual style of the former and the plot structure of the latter. There is even an animated sequence explaining the defining childhood moment of the film's main antagonist. And that is exactly what this film feels like for  a lot of its running time - an imitation of other people's style, close enough to bear comparison.

And yet…the film overall still works. It takes time for its ingredients to come together, building a plot device right under your nose without you realizing it until the Big Reveal and you see all of the little elements in a new light. Small plot holes which niggled at you earlier are suddenly smoothed over. Certain characters suddenly show a level of ingenuity and skill where before they were whiny and/or dull and annoying.

 THE VERDICT

The filmatism behind the camera is excellent, especially the cinematography. However, as a seasoned film fan I find little that is fresh about KNUCKLEDUST and it felt like it was wearing its influences around it's neck rather than upon it's sleeve.. It reminds me of Ben Wheatly's Freefire, another film full of annoying characters with little to redeem itself. Fortunately though, KNUCKLEDUST does redeem itself, somewhat, with a few key scenes in the final stretch of the film. In fact it warrants a re-watch to see if there were any overlooked clues as to where the film was heading.

7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)