The Fall Of The Essex Boys
Starring: Robert Cavanah, Peter Barrett, Nick Nevern, Tony Denham
Director: Paul Tanter
Rating: 2/5
The murder of three drug dealer in 1995 is a story that has fascinated the British media and the British film industry for almost twenty years.
The likes of Essex Boys and Bonded By Blood have hit the big screen over the years and this week Fall Of the Essex Boys is a new take on this well known tale.
An 18 year old girl going into a coma after taking an ecstasy pill from a bad batch is the catalyst that sets in motion a series of events that leads to the demise of one of the most infamous criminal organisations in British History.
Detective Inspector Stone steps in to try and put pressure on an untouchable unit of criminals - Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe. The Essex Boys. In order to bring the criminals down, he must act out of the law to get things done.
As the Essex Boys grow stronger and more fearless, their addiction to drugs and power slowly starts to spiral out of control and they soon start to develop enemies everywhere.
The director Paul Tanter has tried to put a different slant on The Fall of the Essex Boys as we get a closer look at the police investigation than ever before.
Other movies have tended to focus on the Essex Boys themselves, and while the film does do that, they are not always the main point of the film.
And while Tanter has to be applauded for trying to bring a freshness to the film and to the story there is something just a little tired about it.
Sadly the film offers very little that is new and Tanter hasn't done anything better than the movies that have gone before.
The film is a bit of a jumbled mess as it jumps from story line to line and character to character and it really is incredibly unfocused.
Nick Nevern gives one of the best performances in the film as he is a man who is pulled deeper and deeper into a world that he is not comfortable with.
However Nevern's voiceover is one of the worst parts of the film as the character tries to make sense of what is going on.
While the likes of Robert Cavanah and Peter Barrett do the best with what they are gives the characters are just a bit stereotypical and you just feel that you have seen it all before.
There have been so many versions of this story that it is difficult to muster any real enthusiasm for The Fall of the Essex Boys and the film does little to spark any interest.
The Fall of the Essex Boys is out now