24 Hours in London (2000)

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Sorry, but it's not...This is the WORST film ever made! I picked it up one day and made the mistake of watching this thing through, but it was quite a struggle to get to the end.The plot is bad; the acting worse; and the writing would seem to have come from a Chimp with Down Syndrome.If you watch this, I salute you for watching from start to finish. I had to take the batteries out of my remote to keep from hitting eject. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment.Unlike those films that are "So bad, they're good" this is the kind of movie that even a few pints can not make enjoyable...

"24 Hours in London" is one of those films you have to watch to know you have seen it once. Then you never bother with it again. Gary Olsen plays "Christian" (a misnomer if ever there was one), who is a sadistic crime boss centered in London at the start of the current millennium (he and his second-in-command reminisce at one point about their torturing a rival in 1996 at one point). Christian is in the midst of eliminating his rivals in London, and capping it off with a partnership with Lloyd (again a misnomer - a woman with a man's name played by Lorelie King) who heads an American syndicate. If his plans succeed he will be stronger than ever. The story somehow is similar to that of the rise and fall of the Kray Brothers back in the 1950s to 1960s, usually at the expense of their rivals the Richardson Brothers. But for all the brutality of the Krays (and they were quite brutal), the Krays never really go to the crazy lengths of Christian. Totally amoral (something not quite true about the Krays - they were critical in their later years at the treatment of elderly people by punks), Christian is willing to spread terror to unconnected third parties as tactics in getting what he wants. We see from the start the maniacal determination to remove obstacles when a young woman (Martha - Anjela Lauren Smith) stumbles upon the extermination of a rival of Christian (no better description) followed by his leading murder squad (including Sarah Stockbridge and David Sonnenthal). All witnesses are executed, but by an error Martha survives. She is taken to police headquarters and reveals what she knows. The police are happy because they've wanted to get the goods on Christian for years. But they are dealing with a dangerous opponent.Christian has one officer in the headquarters under control, and is aware of every move made by Scotland Yard. He also is brazen enough to shoot his way into the Yard to get at Martha. Later he is also willing to give the London police a series of bombings (with high casualty rates) to occupy their time. This is not going to be an easy road to a conviction. The problem is that the unstable nature of his own people work against Christian. Stockbridge and her fellow killer/lover are psychos who get the right mood by their mayhem. They do shoot their ways into the Yard, but Stockbridge's lover gets fatally injured by one of the police (he gets a spike in his eye). It unsettles her when she is alone to carry out her mission, so she goes out of an elevator guns blazing. She faces a lone armed guard (Polly Moore) who has been told to stay there or be shot. As a result of the double pressures on both women they succeed in fatally shooting each other (though a determined Stockbridge does get to the room where the witness is, only to die there).The film is saved from being a total waste because the acting is okay (no more than that though). Stockbridge is a sexy enough killer, and Olson is threatening - but more should have been showed of his interest in the far east (he has personal judo lessons and Asiatic tattoos, and he likes using a sharp Japanese sword as a weapon). There is also some amusing moments (oddly enough), when Olson uses an annoying rival gang to try to kill the witness. That gang actually makes so many errors that they kill a man who is sleeping in bed (an undercover cop as it turns out), and one of their own members before getting shot by the police. But the film is best appreciated by people who just enjoy mindless violence. The plot actually gets so convoluted with hidden agendas and secrets of the characters, that the viewer finds it impossible to follow the mess. I wish that I could say something more positive, but that is about all I could say.

I was initially sucked in by the cover of this movie. It promised 'gang warfare'. It was apparently somewhat futuristic. There was a review on the cover that described it at 'funny, sexy, clever slice of British action.' 24 Hours in London was neither. The characters were so typical and the acting was so poor I wasn't sure if it was meant to be satire. I guess it was kind-of funny due to the fact that it was so bad.Not to mention the outrageous story. A bad guy that bombs heaps of other buildings (including the millennium dome) in order to create a police distraction. Why didn't he just bomb the hotel? I guess the story at base level is OK, and there's a semi-OK twist, but it's all let down by poor acting, 2D characters and some failed attempts at humor.Don't waste your money.

A well written script and a surprisingly well produced film when you consider the money (or lack of) that went into 24 hours in London, it set the mould for the drivel that then followed it (lock stock, etc). Not having come out at the right time might have harmed the audience's acceptance of this film, but it stands none the less a pleasurable and at times very funny film. Steering away from the usual clichés and injecting humour where American toss would usually reside, makes this movie well worth a look. a promising start for first time director and writer Alex Finbow, and a welcomed break from the mind numbing boredom of blockbuster and art house cinema.