Gangster films are a stable of the British film industry, with many crime films coming out in some form or another each year. It is often a safe bet to make it a debut feature, but every few people could match the success of Guy Ritchie or Matthew Vaughn.
Too Fine (Simon Webb), Pusher (Robbie Gee) and Rage (Roffem Morgan) are three friends who seem to make it out of the ghetto and on the edge of becoming underground rap stars. But one night Too Fine is shot dead and his sister Hope (Naomi Taylor) is raped and threaten by a drug dealer, Temper (Patrick Regis). Hope gets her revenge and Pusher, Rage and their friend Finny (Vas Blackwood) take control of Temper's operation for a drug kingpin (Billy Murray) after killing his crew. But on the case of is police detective (Terry Stone), wanting to get them killing a young waitress in a club shooting and use any method to get them.
Director Julian Gilbey is seen as a raising star as a director and he does have some talent, he can work with a budget, he can deliver on action and keeps the film going at a fast pace. The action scene in the gun runner's house looked and felt very much like a similar scene in Bad Boys 2 and there is a solid car chase in the countryside. But this is a very unfocused film, not knowing whether to focus on Hope and the crew or the police investigate, the scene in the gun runner's house felt like it belonged in a different film and that the crew were not on screen for quiet awhile. It could have easily have been about Hope who after getting raped and her revenge becomes a female gangster and the crew rise and fall but Hope still having the trauma of the rape in the back of her mind. Or it could have been about a dirty/corrupt cop who after seeing an innocent person gets killed or injured has a moral crisis as they investigate the crime. Rollin' With the Nines also felt very much like it was trying to be an American film, including the police detectives having guns, when only specialist armed units in the police are allowed to use guns in the UK and the police ranks are very American, like using Detective and Captain instead Detective Sergeant and Superintendent or DCI. This is also a film that enjoyed violence, using a lot of blood instead of being a more realistic tone I believe that the filmmakers were trying to aim for.
Rollin' With the Nines almost felt like an non well written version of The Wire, focusing on a duel narrative about a police investigation and different ranking gangster in a drug operation and the police even using a homeless crack addict as an informant, even if the relationship is different.
The acting throughout is pretty weak. The best performance came from Simon Webb which is very surprising because he is a pop singer and he dies in the first 10 minutes. The black characters are speak in typical 'ghetto' speak, using slang all the time and because of their different ages they did not even look like they should be friends. The police are simply geezers who break the rules and it seem like the film was trying to have it both ways, showing the police to be corrupt and willing to sell drugs for their own profit but want to do the right thing, bring down big drugs rings and murders. Rollin' With the Nines suffers from having no likable characters; they are violence or corrupt and have few redeeming features. If it was meant to be a story about the corrupting affects of crime on both sides or that they are no good guys in this world, but it did not success on that front. And because of the unfocused nature of the film it felt like it did not know who the protagonist is and there for who the audience is meant to route for.
Rollin' With the Nines shows that Gilbey had some potential behind the camera, but needed more focus on a character and story level. He also had a problem of being too violence, enjoying using the blood packs a bit too much. But you can do a lot worst then this film.
Too Fine (Simon Webb), Pusher (Robbie Gee) and Rage (Roffem Morgan) are three friends who seem to make it out of the ghetto and on the edge of becoming underground rap stars. But one night Too Fine is shot dead and his sister Hope (Naomi Taylor) is raped and threaten by a drug dealer, Temper (Patrick Regis). Hope gets her revenge and Pusher, Rage and their friend Finny (Vas Blackwood) take control of Temper's operation for a drug kingpin (Billy Murray) after killing his crew. But on the case of is police detective (Terry Stone), wanting to get them killing a young waitress in a club shooting and use any method to get them.
Director Julian Gilbey is seen as a raising star as a director and he does have some talent, he can work with a budget, he can deliver on action and keeps the film going at a fast pace. The action scene in the gun runner's house looked and felt very much like a similar scene in Bad Boys 2 and there is a solid car chase in the countryside. But this is a very unfocused film, not knowing whether to focus on Hope and the crew or the police investigate, the scene in the gun runner's house felt like it belonged in a different film and that the crew were not on screen for quiet awhile. It could have easily have been about Hope who after getting raped and her revenge becomes a female gangster and the crew rise and fall but Hope still having the trauma of the rape in the back of her mind. Or it could have been about a dirty/corrupt cop who after seeing an innocent person gets killed or injured has a moral crisis as they investigate the crime. Rollin' With the Nines also felt very much like it was trying to be an American film, including the police detectives having guns, when only specialist armed units in the police are allowed to use guns in the UK and the police ranks are very American, like using Detective and Captain instead Detective Sergeant and Superintendent or DCI. This is also a film that enjoyed violence, using a lot of blood instead of being a more realistic tone I believe that the filmmakers were trying to aim for.
Rollin' With the Nines almost felt like an non well written version of The Wire, focusing on a duel narrative about a police investigation and different ranking gangster in a drug operation and the police even using a homeless crack addict as an informant, even if the relationship is different.
The acting throughout is pretty weak. The best performance came from Simon Webb which is very surprising because he is a pop singer and he dies in the first 10 minutes. The black characters are speak in typical 'ghetto' speak, using slang all the time and because of their different ages they did not even look like they should be friends. The police are simply geezers who break the rules and it seem like the film was trying to have it both ways, showing the police to be corrupt and willing to sell drugs for their own profit but want to do the right thing, bring down big drugs rings and murders. Rollin' With the Nines suffers from having no likable characters; they are violence or corrupt and have few redeeming features. If it was meant to be a story about the corrupting affects of crime on both sides or that they are no good guys in this world, but it did not success on that front. And because of the unfocused nature of the film it felt like it did not know who the protagonist is and there for who the audience is meant to route for.
Rollin' With the Nines shows that Gilbey had some potential behind the camera, but needed more focus on a character and story level. He also had a problem of being too violence, enjoying using the blood packs a bit too much. But you can do a lot worst then this film.