Forget About This Gangster Flick

Like flat soda, Rowan Joffe’s “Brighton Rock” has a definite taste, but is missing ice. Hard-boiled and gritty to the max, the remake, inspired by the film and book of the same name, has its moments, thanks to veteran performances by John Hurt and Helen Mirren and young upstarts Sam Riley and Andrea Riseborough, but is hurt by dreadful pacing and a climax that fails to knock the audience out.

The end result is a sometimes-entertaining noir-gangster film whose trigger jams at all the wrong times.

The fact that Pinky (Riley) goes from a coward to a cold-blooded killer in a matter of minutes hurts the film immensely. Coming off as more of a brat than a cold-blooded villain, it’s hard to take him seriously in the role, regardless of his morose facial expressions and badass demeanor throughout the film. He tries hard, but the way the character is written, any actor would have had a difficult time making him as sinister as he needed to be.

On top of that, it’s confusing at times to gauge his emotions. At times, it feels as if he’s fallen for Rose (Riseborough), to only resort to his manipulation seconds later. Even with his fellow gangsters, his emotions are shrouded in mystery. Had his feelings been a little clearer to at least the audience, the film would have had more of a purpose.

As it stands, Pinky seems like a lost soul swimming in a fish bowl.

The same thing can be said of Riseborough’s character, but in her case, it works perfectly. Beautiful and naïve, there’s an innocence and purity that drives the film and is the film’s only real redeeming quality aside from the solid supporting spots by Hurt and Mirren. Perhaps the entire point was to contrast both of these characters’ purity and how they are forever changed by a single moment.

It’s impossible to know that however, as the final act seems to change pace entirely, as all the loose ends are tied up and our lovely Rose is left to ponder what could have been.

Regardless of the uneven story, behind the quality acting and beautiful cinematography, the film isn’t a complete loss. Joffe is an undeniable talent and worth keeping an eye on. However, the film itself isn’t better than the sum of its parts. Tighter editing could have sped up the pace and saved the film from a mediocre fate, but overall, it’s not savvy enough to fix its self-imposed scars.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14229 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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