Gangster No.1

(Paul McGuigan/2000/UK)

Released the same year as Sexy Beast and with much the same subject matter, aging criminals, Gangster No.1 builds its story from narrated flashbacks rather than rooting itself firmly in the present. This allows for lots of vintage costume styling and set decorating which looks great but also seems somehow over familiar. We’re not breaking any new ground here but there’s fine performances from Paul Bettany as the young sociopathic gangster of the title who manoeuvres his way into a position of power in the London crime scene. Malcolm McDowell is also impressive as the aged gangster in the present day but the montage and flashback style story telling lacks a build up of intensity and there’s a reliance on grisly violence to shock and engage the viewer. The culmination of the story is both a little confusing and deflating. It’s pertinent to make comparison with Sexy Beast which has a subtlety that’s absent here. The menace onscreen is in the possibility of violence from Ben Kingsley’s obviously lunatic character and whilst there are moments of viciousness there’s a restraint in the script from showing too much. There’s a lot more in what we don’t see than what we do sometimes and this I think is why Sexy Beast is a more enduring film than McGuigan’s Gangster No.1.

(2.5/5)