A small-scale heist thriller in which the heist itself comes across as secondary to the film's main interest and rather redundant by the time it happens. The main interest is, of course, a barnstorming performance from Sir Ben Kingsley as one absolutely dangerous, over-the-edge gangster. Kingsley is superb here and makes for one of the funniest, most chilling characters of all time. The dialogue hums and zings while even at the same time the plotting is nothing more than predictable.

It's hardly worth bothering with the other characters, although Ray Winstone holds it all together as a likable enough retired gangster type. Ian McShane's around too, but wasted in a minor role and really it's the interaction between Kingsley and the rest of the cast you'll be watching: as outrageous, profane, insane and genuinely funny as any other film I can think of.

Gal Dove (Ray Winstone) is living the retired life in Spain with his wife Deedee (Amanda Redman) and their friends when former fellow criminal and abusive sociopath Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) crashes in. He wants Gal to do a bank heist back in London, but Gal resists. There is a big confrontation with Logan and the group. Gal is forced to do the job for Teddy Bass (Ian McShane) as if nothing happened. Teddy got information on the safe from the manager Harry (James Fox) and everybody is on edge.

Director Jonathan Glazer has a great absurd style which he uses on idiosyncratic characters. Ben Kingsley's intensity is great. It's too bad that he has to be killed off. I love the fact that everybody is afraid of him before he even arrives. His dialog is absolutely crazy. Ray Winstone went beach bum blonde. The story is a little light in the first half but that has the fun of Ben Kingsley. The second half gets weird with Gal's crazy visions and overall sense of paranoia.

A fantastic British gangster movie that goes for authenticity over 'Mockney' laughs. Continuing where 'Performance' left off (it even features James Fox) this movie has stand-out performances from all of it's cast, with Ben Kingsley (as Don Logan) producing the scariest bad-guy in cinema since Dennis Hopper's 'Frank'. Ray Winstone & Amanda Redmond are perfectly cast, with Winstone flinching superbly from the terrifying aggression exuded by Kingsley and, to a lesser extent, McShane. Ian McShane does a lot to bury his lightweight 'Lovejoy' persona with an excellent, menacing performance that contrasts well against Winstone's thin bravado, but the honours here have to go to Kingsley who is simply stunning, turning in a masterclass performance and proving (once again) that he is a top-drawer actor with every aspect of his character (posture; accent; attitude) finally honed and utterly (appallingly) convincing.

Kingsley's scenes set the movie alight (like the stunning airport sequence, and of course the return to the villa) and it would be interesting to know just how much of the dialogue comes from the excellent script and how much (if any) was improvised. These more aggressive sections are beautifully contrasted by the 'slower' character building sections, which allow Winstone to display his charm to full affect. A superb movie, well worth repeat viewing...