Blitz

BLITZ (CINEMA)
Lionsgate UK 

Release date: May 20th 2011
Certificate (UK): 18
Running time: 97 minutes

Director: Elliott Lester
cast: Jason Statham, Luke Evans, Paddy Considine, David Morrissey, Aidan Gillen, Mark Rylance, Zawe Ashton

London can be a scary place sometimes. I grew up in the East End, an area that’s rich multi-culturally, but also suffering from unemployment, crime and where standards in housing, healthcare and education have seen better days. Things are on the up though, with the 2012 Olympics fast approaching there’s a rush to redevelop as much as possible.

But what of South London? Areas such as Peckham, Brixton and Camberwell remain notorious for gun and knife crime, gang violence and drug related offences and while there are more programs out there to help the youth, unemployed and those with low education than ever before, it’s a long way before attitudes change – not just about the area, but of the people who live there.

Blitz, based on the novel by Ken Bruen unfortunately doesn’t do much to help. It takes the Dirty Harry formula of a tough, unpredictable and prone to violence police officer Tom Brant (Jason Statham) and teams him up with Porter Nash (Paddy Considine), an openly gay officer, as they try to track down a serial killer who’s targeting the force. The murders are bloody and brutal and while they try to figure what links them all together, no one knows who could be the next target.

The supporting cast do a really great job of keeping the suspense going. WPC Elizabeth Falls (Zawe Ashton) is a new recruit, but she has her own problems, battling drug addiction and trying to keep a young friend out of trouble and away from gangs. Chief Inspector James Roberts (Mark Rylance) is not coping well with the loss of his wife and staying off the drink. Harold Dunlop (David Morrissey) is a vain journalist who’s out to make a name for himself by reporting with exclusives directly from the killer.

In a film that’s rich with these flawed supporting characters, it’s a surprise that the least interesting aspects are Statham’s and Gillen’s main characters.

Brant is suffering from burn-out; he has blackouts, difficulties getting out of bed in the morning, doesn’t know how to work a computer and is generally unable to understand human emotions and relationships. This, it seems, makes him a great police officer who is able to get results. We learn nothing during the course of the film about how Brant is going to cope with his problems and as a result, he doesn’t undergo any development or receive any reprimand for his shortcomings.

Barry Weiss (Aidan Gillen) is engaging as the villain in the film, but he’s textbook character and one that isn’t really fleshed out to give insight or show real motivation for his actions. Subsequently, he seems superficial in comparison to serial killers in movies that Blitz hopes it can be like, namely David Fincher’s Seven (1995) and Michael Mann‘s Manhunter (1986).

As Blitz works its way to a violent climax, in the end it says nothing good either about South London or those given the job to protect it. If anything, it shows that it’s ok to disregard the law and take matters into your own hands, but what I find most troubling is that it also seems to imply that’s ok for the police as well. It’s every man for himself.

A film like Blitz won’t do much to help change attitudes towards South London or the police for that matter; for its morally irresponsible storyline, it is at best an average thriller with its lack of insight, emotion, development and meaningful dialogue but with a better screenplay, it could have been so much more.