bob the moo (25 May 2012)

Poor Brit gangster film that will only appeal to little boys

Pete Thompson's father dies and leaves him the whole business. However hisfriend and business accountant, Sean Deeny, reveals that the business is inmajor trouble with the taxman. To get past the problem Sean and Pete gointo business with the Russian mafia. However Pete has other plans to getrich, while Sean just wants to have kids and have a quietlife.In the past few years the spate of British gangster films has been very muchone of copies of `Lock Stock' etc. Some of them manage to be different andclever enough to work, but many are poor copies that lack any style orsubstance. Unfortunately for my evening, Rancid Aluminium falls within thelatter category. The plotting is very poor, it is rambling and has nothingresembling tension or gripping narrative. In essence it is a short filmwith all the scenes stretched out to longer than they can sustain. The endresult is a loose mess of a plot that doesn't really hang together atall.The film can't manage the style of Lock, Stock – instead it feels forced,maybe this was the director's first film – it certain feels like he istrying to impress someone with old ideas that are fresh to him. The scriptalso fails to really bring any characters out, instead they are pretty muchall flat clichés. Now, I know the same is true of those in Lock, Stock andSnatch, but at least these had some redemption by being funny and tongue incheek at points. Here that is pretty much not the case with any of thecharacters. Ifans makes good effort but is hampered by the script, he isthe best of a poor bunch. Fiennes is awful, no sooner had he got theperfect career springboard in `Shakespeare in Love' then he does this. Hisaccent is awful and his overall performance is weak. Fitzgerald, Frost andBehr all just line up to be naked and have their sex scenes. It is slightlydegrading to see the film be so unimaginative that it just has regular sexscenes to keep the audience interested. Berkoff and Allen are hammy andpretty pointless.Overall this film has few if any redeeming qualities. Any it does have arebecause it copied it from other, better films. It is full of nonsense thatthe director mistook for style or modern wit. A real waste of time andeffort.

lutewhine (24 May 2012)

I demand an hour and a half of my life back

First of all, I should've known better than to go to see a film that wasbeing flyposted around London with a recommendation from The Daily Staremblazoned at the top of it. Second of all, the only reason I went at allwas because my girlfriend was in a post-Shakespeare In Love Joseph Fiennesphase.And oh dear god it's bad. It doesn't help that it makes absolutely nosense,mainly due to some of the most jarring cuts I've ever seen outside a GCSEfilm project. One scene in particular threw me entirely when Rhys Ifans'character was in London one minute, being vaguely threatened by someclichedheavy, but once I'd glanced away for a second (probably checking my watch)Ilooked up to find that he was suddenly in Russia, being sneered at by somedifferent cliched heavies. Elsewhere the editing is seriously misguided -several times the film lingers on pointless scenes featuring female flesh,while seemingly integral plot points are rushed through, patched togetherunsatisfactorily by a hammy voiceover.Both Fiennes and Ifans - actors I rate - are quite terrible, but words canonly hint at how appalling Steven Berkoff is in this film. He pretty muchonly says one word (several times) - "Beeeeeeeezneeeeeeesss", and everytimehe did I couldn't help but think that he was gradually making his villaininRambo 3 seem like an acting tour de force.I've never once walked out on a film before. I'm clearly too stubborn - wewere the only two people that DIDN'T walk out at the screening weattended.Comfortably the worst film I have ever paid so endure.

(20 May 2012)

Excellent offbeat black humoured tale.

In the vein of the current British film trend for hard hitting realism withplenty of black humour thrown in this is up there alongside "Lock Stock..."and its like. Involving the Russian mafia puts a new twist on the ganglandtheme and Rhys Ifans gives a thoroughly convincing performance as theunwitting hero of the tale. The supporting cast are all familiar faces toeveryone who is up to date with the current stable of cool, competent talentgracing the screens of British TV and particular mention must be made of TVpresenter Danni Behr's top supporting role. A must see without anydoubt.

Christopher Null (19 May 2012)

Confusing

Giles Cresswell (09 May 2012)

Rancid Adaptation

I have not yet decided whether this will replace Anaconda as "The WorstFilmI Have Ever Seen".Even if you ignore the dodgy accents, low production values and appallingcamera work this film has absolutely nothing going for it. I only went tosee it as I had read the book and wanted to see how they would work thecomplicated plot into a 2 hour film.The simple answer is - they didn't. Characters appear with little to noexplanation as to who they are and then proceed to play no valuable partinthe narrative. Even the main characters act without reason so that by thetime the film reaches it's climax you don't care what happens to any ofthem.I can accept that books occasionally need to be rewritten to fit into filmsand that it is perhaps unfair to judge this film against the book it wasadapted from. But after my friends and I came out of the cinema I had tospend most of the journey home explaining what was supposed to havehappened.They even change the true meaning of the books title "Rancid Aluminium" bysqueezing it into yet another piece of pointless voice over just so theycanallow the film to have a cool title.A real mess of a film from start to finish.

Dodger-9 (09 May 2012)

There's no aluminium here but it is rancid

Where do you begin with a movie as bad as this?Do you mention the cast of unlikeable heroes? The over-the-top acting? Thedreadful script?No. You just say that anyone who pays money to see a film as poor as thisneeds their head looking at. I know I do.I respect those poor guys who saw it with little or no advance word frommags like Empire (usually a bad sign if a preview copy isn't available tothe quality movie mags).However, cinemas really should start thinking about giving out refunds ifthe customer isn't happy with the finished product.I went three days after it opened with two other mates. The only otherperson in the cinema was one bloke on his own.And that was on cheap night.Either the ad campaign had failed dismally or word had spread through mostof the country of just what a stinker this is.Not since the days of The Avengers (1998) have I felt so short changedsincewatching a movie. If a mate comes round with this on video in a few monthsmake sure he pays your electricity bill while watchingit.Tara Fitzgerald deserves an award for not cracking up - or walking off theset; Keith Allen retains some dignity amid the cinematic carnage; BarryFoster should have been arrested on the set for his performance, RhysIfansdoes his career no favours after the success of Notting Hill and only DaniBehr is halfway likeable as a busty secretary.Mind you, considering she used to be in The Word, any viewers'expectationsof her acting ability had to be pretty low to begin with.The production values aren't bad considering the obviously limited budgetbut that script is atrocious. If you want to hear a bunch of unlikeablecharacters say "Fak!" for a couple of hours then this should be right upyour street.Otherwise, bargepoles required.

acearms (04 May 2012)

Billed as a drama, but instead a second rate comedy at best.

For shame, for shame that a fine actor such as Joseph Fiennes would allowhimself to be cast in this piece of nauseating drivel. The movie was notonly bad, but down right horrible and of no redeeming quality. The plot,(was there one?) seemed to go no where. The Russians played silly kill orbe killed games and the rest of the cast should be declared null and voidfor their pathetic performances. I gave up about 3/4 of the way throughandturned it off. A "1" for awful only because there is nothing lower. Don'twaste your time on this one, you'll not miss anything.

Mr_Ghostface_Lives (03 May 2012)

Jesus Christ! This is a MOVIE?

Okay. So there aren't really that many great movies around. Recent gemslikeAmerican Dream, The Straight Story and even Toy Story 2 don't normallycomeso close together. But boy (!) does this film counter-balance thequality.I have NO idea what these people thought they were doing. Are thefinanciersin this world so easily convinced to fund such a crock of ****? I can justsee it now...Producer - "So we've got Joe Fiennes. He's cute as a button and was prettygood in Shakespeare in Love. And we've got Rhys Ifans, who isn't cute butwas cool in Notting Hill. We'll mix in a really mediocre score, a fewforgettable post-Britpop tunes, hemlock root and lizard brains and heypresto you've got the worst film of the new millennium.And believe me,it'sgonna be a hard job to make anything as bad as this in the next thousandyears."The Bank - "I like it! Any unnecessary sex? Bad camera movements? And whatabout the worst accents this side of Devil's Own?"Producer - "Yeah, we got plenty of those."The Bank - "Sounds great, where do we sign?"Please.

seger-1 (28 April 2012)

twisted and funny

Being from an Eastern-European mafia-infested country, and Slavonic aswell, I completely sympathized with the main character and was, at thesame time, reminded of the nineties in Serbia. BUt, this is not what Ilike about this film. It is so over the top, a nice twisted littlestory of an ordinary guy put in extraordinary circumstances, and veryfar away from any Hollywood-type gangster movie. It is wrong to watchthis film only for Joseph Fiennes, although he is O.K. One should keepone's mind open and indulge in it because it is modern, gritty andneeds a bit of intellectual involvement, if it isn't too much to askfrom an average cinema goer.

Malcolm-22 (28 April 2012)

Cracking. Hot movie

I think Nick Webster was watching a different version of 'Rancid...' afterreading his views. Me and three friends were selected to preview the filmwhich to be fair they did stress was very much a work in progress.The first thing that struck me was the cast which interacted brilliantly onscreen. The music grabbed you from the start and the photography was some ofthe best I've seen in a British movie. Rhys Ifans is fantastic as Pete Thompson, convincing you to really engagewith his plight as everything around him falls to pieces. Steven Berkoffrocks - as usual. The only slightly dodgy part was Tara Fitzgerald's accentbut that's more than compensated by being able to watch her. She looksstunning and the sexual chemistry between her and Rhys is scintilating.Joseph Fiennes is superb out of his pantaloons and a very sinisterperformance culminates in the most astonishingly scary shoot out of any filmlet alone Tarantino. This is a solid British movie which might have its detractors but we enjoyedit for what it is. Love or hate but those who see it will never forget the humour, sex,violence and style of the piece. See it, you will be the only one thatdoesn't when its out.

Robert Clarke (28 April 2012)

One of the worst films I have ever seen

This is a truly abysmal `LOCK STOCK' clone with a stellar cast and aterrible script. I have no idea why so many top British actors signed up tothis junk, they must have been bribed. A miss match of a storyline goes onforever and ever and ever and if I hadn't have paid good money for it I'dhave turned it off after 10 minutes. Not the worst film ive ever seen, thathonour goes to the truly pathetic used bogroll of a ‘movie' (I use the termloosely) `GUMMO' (I feel like suing that so called `director' for the losthour and a half of my life) but this trash is nearly right down there withit. Definitely one of the worst 5 films I have ever seen. Stuff like thisreminds Hollywood that they don't have a monopoly on truly awfulfilms.

bakovljev (27 April 2012)

Extraordinarilly......

Must confess to having seen a few howlers in my time, but this one is upthere with the worst of them. Plot troubling to follow. Sex and violencethrown in to disorient and distract from the really poorly put togetherfilm.I can only imagine that the cast will look back on the end product andwishit to gather dust on a shelf not to be disturbed for a generation or two.Sadly, in my case, I have the DVD. It will sit on the shelf and look at mefrom time to time.

darren_steven (26 April 2012)

RANCID FILM

I have seen bad films but this took the p***. Made no sense, and all thecharacters do is swear every couple of seconds, oh and i think one has alowsperm count. Its that good. A welshman plays a sweary cockney. A poshenglish bloke plays a foul mouthed unlovable rogue of a paddy, and somelesser lights play dim tarts.And there are some Russian gangsters. Oh yes some one has a gun and maybetalks rubbish whilst high on drugs.Avoid this film like the plague.

rivnam (25 April 2012)

terrible, shocking, disgraceful

this film is quite simply one of the worst films ever made and is adamning indictment on not only the British film industry but thetalentless hacks at work today. Not only did the film get mainstreamdistribution it also features a good cast of British actors, so whatwent wrong? i don't know and simply i don't care enough to engage withthe debate because the film was so terrible it deserves no thought atall. be warned and stay the hell away from this rubbish. but apparentlyi need to write ten lines of text in this review so i might as welldetail the plot. A nob of a man is setup by his evil friend andco-worker out of his father's company and thus leads to an encounterwith the Russian mafia and dodgy accents and stupid, very stupid plottwists/devices. i should have asked for my money back but was perhapsstill in shock from the experience. if you want a good crime film watchthe usual suspects or the godfather, what about lock, stock.... thatsthe peak of the contemporary British crime film.....

stephen-henry (17 April 2012)

Rancid is right!!!

There is no doubt that this film has an impressive cast butunfortunately this doesn't help with the major downsides to the movie.I never understand why directors ask actors/actresses to use accentsnot their own when it is obvious to everyone they can't convince.Fiennes just can't do Irish and Fitzgerald isn't much better atRussian. When the voice is wrong then no matter how good the acting thecharacter will never be convincing. As the for the major problem....theplot....was there one? I guess there was some sort of storylineinvolved but it was so full of holes that I just couldn't wait for thefilm to end...it was ridiculous. Save 90 minutes of your life and don'twatch this movie!

HandyBiteSize (17 April 2012)

Well this was a first...

...the first film I had to walk out on. And it was the cast andcrewpre-screening (Not that I was involved, I hasten to add). I made itthroughthe first hour, so I reckon I'm just qualified to comment, but that was mylimit.Like other comments here, how did this get through any kind of QA. Anaccumulation of the very worst in dialogue, the epitome of wooden acting,awful casting, all wrapped together without a plot.Tara Fitzgerald's casting was bizarre, almost comic. She possesses theworstRussian accent in movie history.As I left the screening, the director and producers were drinking in a baroutside the cinema. They obviously couldn't sit through it againeither.

Ed Scammell (06 April 2012)

15 Seconds of Fame

I have given this film an elevated rating of 2 stars as I personallyappear in minutes 42 and 43 of the film....the road side bar scene inRussia. In this scene the director of the movie offered me the immortalline - "50 Dollars..you Drink and Talk", but I felt that my Polishcounterpart could speak in a more convincing Russian accent than Icould, so I declined to take this speaking part on. I was slightlystarstruck as this was my first Film experience....and who knows...these lines could have ended up there with lines such as "I'll be Back"and "Quite Frankly My Dear, I Don't Give a Damn". Had I spoken that oneline then my name would appear in the credits of Rancid Aluminium as'Heavy 1' instead of the name of Ryszard Janikowski. As time goes on, I am counting myself lucky that my name is in no wayconnected to this film.Even though I spent a whole day on the set, in South Wales hot-spotBarry Island, no one could tell me what the actual storyline was. Thecaterers and the wardrobe lady all concurred that it appeared to have alot of swearing and nudity in it..... things could certainly have beenworse if I'd ended up naked in this most dreadful of films....Still.....On the positive side....I got chatting to Rhys Ifans duringone break. I had no idea who he was, as "Notting Hill" was yet to bereleased, and not an inkling that he might be Welsh. Made variousinappropriate comments about what an awful pit Barry Island had becomesince my childhood visits there in the 70s and 80s. It was only whenKeith Allen showed up that I realised I was in a qualityproduction........

davideo-2 (06 April 2012)

Rancid film for the most part as well,unfortunately.

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A MealInstead*Avoid At All CostsRancid Aliminium,like most gangster type films of it's ilk,did,ofcourse,have the potential to be great.There are some intriguing and excitingnew ideas to be explored here,but unfor-tunately,they are mostly squandered by what is mostly the film's biggestdownfall,the frenetic and ill-explored pace at which it sets itself intoaction.It seems like a hodgepodge of ideas from each of the differentgenres:Comedy,thriller,GangsterMovie,action,all of which are concocted together at various different pointsto make up for a confusing and too fast paced for it's own good story.Mostof the performances were very disappointing too:Rhys Ifans,in the leadrole,was the best thing on offer,obviously trying to make his role stand outmore than it could have,maybe even taking sympathy on the over zealousscreenwriter so that his electric work could not fail('I was obviously born to mow lawns ,and look after goldfish!')But Josepth Fiennes emerged as routinely cold as his villainous brother,notreally standing out as to why he was any worse than Rhys,whilst Sadie Frostas a russian bad girl babe clearly thought she was starring in the new JamesBond film.The title did'nt make an awful lot of sense,either.And yet,as ever,any IMDB members who are situated in Britain like me whoplay the national lottery know exactly who is ultimately responsible for themaking of this kind of film:us.**

NewCartesian (27 March 2012)

without any imagination

We know from other movies that the actors are good but they cannot savethe movie. A waste of time.The premise was not too bad.But one workable idea (interaction between real bussinessmen and Russianmafia) is not followed by an intelligent script

(27 March 2012)

why are you looking at this page?

it could only be two reasons;1, you're here because you've seen a single, somewhat dog-eared, copy ofrancid alu in your local woolworth's for the last hundred years and you'rewondering if, yes, maybe you should buy it. how bad could itbe?2, secondly, you're here because you've seen it (probably on c4 the othernight) and, being so utterly bewildered by the following;a, it got released.b, actors read the script and signed up.c, someone, somewhere at a studio gave it the go ahead.d, (AND MAINLY) you were thrown by a plot that made so little sense, afilmso badly made and where none of the ideas (it's unjust to call thesepremises ideas really) made any sense or worked at all.ahem, so being so bewildered, you thought there was a deeper meaning,something you missed or didn't get that made it worthwhile. you didn't, itreally was that bad.