freemantle_uk Since the success of Guy Ritchie in British film industry many writers and directors have tired and fail to copy his formula of gangsterism and comedy. Dead Man Running is no exception, a poor attempt of a film that should have been straight-to-DVD had it not had 50 Cent, had Rio Ferdinard and Ashley Cole financed the film or promoted on the BBC's Film Programme.Nick (Tamer Hassan) is an ex-con who is struggling to play his debts, looks after his recently disabled mother (Brenda Blethyn) and with his friend Bing (Danny Dyer) tries to see sky holidays to Dubai because, eh… because. He is also a man who owns a £100,000 debt to a ruthless American gangster, Mr. Thigo (50 Cent), a man struggling to get his money back since the credit crunch. He picks Nick to make an example of him, that he has to get £100,000 in 24 hours or he will kill him and his mother. Nick and Bing have to use every trick in the book and everything they can to get the money.Dead Man Running is just a cheap looking film attempting some stylish tricks and is filled with poor acting, action and comedy. The plot itself is just a rip off a Guy Ritchie film, some small time crook ends up crossing a big gangster and the crook has to pay him back quickly, that's what happened in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Rocknrolla, but at least those films have sub-plots. Alex De Rakoff is no Ritchie, he does not have his directional or writing abilities. There are some stylist moments in the beginning when Thigo talks about the effects of the credit crunch on dealers, using football commentary when a group of kids are transferring cocaine to a council estate and when Nick and Bing are driving up north. But it looks cheap: the few action scenes like the bare knuckle boxing being shot too close and cut too quickly to truly tell what is really happening.As a whole the film is very predictable and the plot turns and twists can be seen from a mile off. There is a ridiculous idea that Thigo has men all over London (despite being an American gangster) and been following Nick through a giant tracker in coat pocket and even if we can buy that he did not notice that, he sits on a train next to a teenager already on the train who is working for Thigo and he steals his money. That is just impossible. I could buy that some teenager steals the money simply through bad luck but no, that was too much plot convenience for the audience to suspend their disbelieve. There is too much luck and at the end the mother was able to kill her captor, so taking away what little tension there is.Except for one mildly funny joke the humour falls flat and the story as a whole is weak. It could have been an interesting to see a gangster who operates across borders, having his fingers in a lot of pies and working as a banker to major gangsters and operations to a lot of people, but no, that is ruined. De Rakoff admits that the character started of English but was turned into an American because of the credit crunch. But what really happened was Rakoff found out that 50 Cent was available, so rewrote the character to be America. His nationality made no different because he just operated like a British gangster we have seen in dozens of gangster films before hand.The acting is just sub-par. It is not good and most of the actors just phoned in there performances. Danny Dyer was not as annoying as he can be and he did not play the cockney hard man he normally plays. It was clear that 50 Cent was only on set for a couple of days and he has shown time and again he can not act. I would say go back to rapping but that would be just as bad.At best Dead Man Running is a generic Brit-gangster film we have seen time and again. It offers us nothing new and is not worth your time. It is a dull film that is stupid when you put any real world logic to it and you may as well watch a good gangster film again.

simonpcpearson I am sick of low budget British gangster movies..they are the cheap, lazy cashcow for any talentless wannabe who thinks he can make films.The video shops are full of them and none of them are any good. I wish UK film-makers would think outside of the box and stop making rubbish about cockney geezers, zombies, vampires or serial killers.This one stars Danny Dyer and Tamer Hassan (who else?) but it does have some excellent moments with Brenda Blethyn and Phil Davis.Even Dyer and Hassan get a few decent moments when the film reaches its last half hour or so.Couple of funny moments...not much but better than most of the dross they do. Hassan is certainly better than he was in Wrong Turn at Frightfest.I gave this 4 out of 10..bit kind but, sadly, there is much worse out there

davideo-2 STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Nick (Tamer Hassan) is trying to put his criminal past behind him and start up a successful travel agents. But he's in money worries getting it off the ground and even worse American gangster Mr. Thigo (50 Cent) has arrived in London and Nick owes him quite a bit of money. And just to remind him, Thigo takes his mother hostage and gives him twenty four hours to find the cash he owes him...or she dies. And so, with the assistance of his quirky business partner Bing (Danny Dyer) he begins a mad dash around the capital and even up north getting into scrapes involving underworld kingpins, motorway police and the lowest of the criminal underworld.This latest addition to the Brit gangster flick came out of nowhere but looked rather slick and stylish, not to mention having the surprise inclusion of well known rap icon 50 Cent in the cast. Alas, it looks really cheap and awful, shot with a murky camera lens through out that brings it down a peg or two. But that's not the main thing wrong with Dead Man Running, a vapid, empty affair that fails to be thrilling or funny in any way. Even a lively supporting cast in the shape of Brenda Blethyn, Phillip Davis, Scot Williams and Ashley Walters can't bring it to life, plenty of material to go on but failing to strike a chord with any of it. As for lead stars Dyer and Hassan, they've worked well together before, but it would seem they fall apart without Nick Love to guide them. *

the_rattlesnake25 'Dead Man Running' sees the cinematic Cockney wide boys Tamer Hassan and Danny Dyer join together for yet another jolly boys outing on the big screen. Except this time instead of playing raging football hooligans destroying East London one shop window at a time, they are instead pushed into the world of the British Gangster flick. Which sounds like potential entertainment, but it really isn't. It'll help you fill an hour and thirty minutes of free time, but you won't be rushing to see it again at the Cinema, or out to buy the DVD, or see to it on pay-television...The opening scene of the film shows that the recession has had far and wide reaching consequences across the economic board as the underworld boss Mr Thigo (Curtis '50' Jackson) decides to draw in every penny from all the outstanding loans he is currently owed. While Nick (Hassan) is the unfortunate customer who is going to be made an example of by Thigo to make sure everybody pays up promptly and without hassle – Barclays Banking this is not. Nick is given twenty-four hours to acquire the hundred grand he owes Thigo otherwise he and his mother (Brenda Blethyn) will be sleeping with the fishes. Cue a frantic race across London with his business partner and working-class friend Bing (Danny Dyer) in tow as they attempt various different activities while trying to raise the debt and stay alive.Hassan and Dyer play the typical characters you have seen them time and time again, and it is now becoming a little annoying as well as entirely predictable and boring. Nick is a former 'hardman' who was a resident at Her Majesty's service before taking the legal and law-abiding route so he could care for his family. While Bing is his right-hand man who is willing to do almost anything to help Nick obtain the £100,000 that he owes. Yet there is one gleaming performance in this stiff, wooden cast which is that of veteran British actress Brenda Blethyn who plays Nick's caring, soft, yet incredibly versatile mother who provides not only the biggest laugh of the film, but also the tensest scene as we uncover a secret she has kept buried under her blanket.I was never expecting a brilliant film from Alex De Rakoff's British crime flick 'Dead Man Running', but I was expecting more considering the decent cast it contains. It fails to harbour the primarily British cast's potential and instead delivers a predictable narrative coupled with a terribly clichéd script. The biggest problem however is the fact that despite being evenly and well paced, the film has nothing which will keep an audience's attention for longer than five minutes.