We Still Kill the Old Way (2014)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

A different way of telling a story

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

This is a London based vigilante film that features almost cartoonish street hoodlums who the director goes out of his way to make utterly despicable such as casual raping and at one point threatening to throw a pram and baby over a building.An old man Charlie (Steven Berkoff) is kicked to death by a gang called E2 as he tries to help a young woman from being raped. However Charlie was a respected and also a feared former gangster. To get revenge his brother Richie (Ian Ogilvy) returns from Spain and gets together with his old lags to gain revenge.The hard guy pensioners go old school as they catch several members of E2 and torture them as they try to find out the whereabouts of their gang leader. The police in the mean time act like dummies not even able to find out that the gang put Charlie's beating on YouTube.It is nice to see former Saint, Ogilvy returning to headline a film and trading his posh accent for a gruff cockney one. He still looks smooth for his age which is more than I can say for the female co- stars Alison Doody and Lysette Anthony who are unrecognisable from their bygone years.At least the hard assed veterans seem to be having fun getting back to torturing their victims like the old day although I did it find it hard to believe that the youthful scum did not start squealing after one punch.The film is derivative, enjoyable and plain daft in equal measures. The shoot out at the hospital was almost bizarre.

Not going to rehash the plot line but my expectations were minimal at first but the movie surprised me. But then again i'm an old fart like the protagonist and i've been around the street a few times myself mates.Sit back and enjoy the relationship between these former bad boys reunited to avenge the death of one of their own. It's brimming with hilarity.Might not be your cup of tea but i enjoyed the show. Of course you'll be cheering for the lads to give those ruffians a good thrashing.Happy viewing.Cheers!

Review: This is yet another movie about old gangsters vs. new gangsters in the East End. The young gangsters are going around causing unnecessary trouble and when one of the old school gangsters confronts them in a dark alleyway, whilst trying to save a young girl from getting raped, he gets murdered in a brutal way so the old crew get together to revenge his death. The old crew seemed like they wouldn't hurt a fly and they weren't that convincing as brutal killers. The new school crew were more annoying than scary and they just went around being a nuisance, thinking that they were bad. When the two sides clash, they end up in a big shoot out in a hospital, which was quite ridiculous, and then the film ends abruptly. It seemed more of a comedy than a meaningful gangster movie and there is just way too much talking and not enough violence from the old boys. Anyway, it's worth a watch just to past the time but it's not that great. Average!Round-Up: It's a bit weird watching a guy from Eastenders act like a gangster. I couldn't really take him seriously because I couldn't get his part in Eastenders, out of my mind. He was really trying his hardest to chat like a badman and his mannerisms and constant yelling at his fellow crew members became annoying after a while. The old gangsters could have been much harder and more brutal but the director gave them witty lines which didn't really work in this film. Anyway, if your hoping for a Essex Boys type of movie then this isn't the movie for you but if you want to see two generations of gangsters clashing, then you should give it a go. I recommend this movie to people who are into their crime/action movies about an old gangster who is out for revenge, with his old crew, after his brother gets killed by a teenage gang. 3/10

"Old gangster and his crew returns to old neighborhood for vengeance against a gang of violent youths who now rule their old territory" First of all, great original sounding title. But since it's not a remake of the 1967 move of the same name, very bad title.The characters are typical and in "Tarantino terms" that would be great use of clichés, but it falls a bit flat here. The interesting details of each character are skipped over and ignored, giving them little depth and no mystery. Our hero has OCD but it's put to little use in the plot. The other members of his old gang have interesting back stories and personality traits that remain unexplored, and at times they just become annoying rather than interesting or funny - so many missed opportunities here. Our bad guys: Leader has a scar on his face, no back story to it - normally not needed unless it would make him more interesting, and he certainly needs that. He's utterly psychopathic but it somehow doesn't seem like it suits him. He really overplays the part and not very convincingly. I think he's a decent actor but this part is just not him. The rest of his gang are equally unconvincing, they all look like they'd poop themselves if faced with the slightest real threat, and at no time does one get the impression that they run the streets. At one point (not really a spoiler) two gang members are threatened with torture and I'm at no point convinced that these two are as "hard" as they are trying to act. Which streets? Yes there's another problem. The whole film is shot in relatively boring urban surroundings that just don't seem very menacing, most of it indoors at that. I get no sense looming doom and danger. Another wasted opportunity, I know London has some great locations for this type of film. Then there's the police - totally useless in this story, every one of them a bad actor. Alison Doody is decent, but I'm completely confused by her fake American accent while she plays a London detective. Makes little sense at all and it's just so misplaced that it becomes distracting. There are a few attempts at interesting camera work, but since I noticed it and it wasn't very impressive, I will have to claim it was misplaced and obvious for all the wrong reasons. All in all it seems more like this movie is aimed at an audience over 60, trying to make them feel safer and secure in the knowledge that they have more decency than "those young ruffians on the corner who don't show us any respect".