Hyena

(Gerard Johnson/2014/UK)

With an opening shot of a police raid on a club with people being beaten and arrested scored to an elegant, upbeat piece of orchestral music the immediate connotation is Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange but Hyena very quickly shrugs off any notions of stylized violence. It is more closely related to Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant relocated to modern day London. Gritty is the overused descriptor that fits here but it really is gritty. Tracing the descent into hell of Michael Logan, a bent detective operating within the drug syndicates of the capital it slowly ratchets up both the gruesomeness and tension. Logan manoeuvres himself into business with a pair of Albanian brothers who prove to be far more demanding than his previous Turkish dealer. The casual, observing camerawork in scenes of rape and killing are, to be frank, chilling, presenting the acts as they are, horrific. As internal affairs become involved and Logan finds himself caught between his equally corrupt workmates and the Albanian thugs with an added concern for a woman he’s come into contact with in one of the Albanian brothels, his sense of panic and erratic behaviour begin to spiral. In a moment that will no doubt divide opinion Gerald Johnson finishes the film with a stroke of maturity and breathlessness that’s rarely seen in these British crime dramas that have proliferated since the 90’s. The score by The The’s Matt Johnson is great too.

(3.5/5)