Ali Catterall Underworld assassin Jon (Howard) is in thrall to his frightening, and frighteningly erudite employer, the Machiavellian 'Tattooed Man' (Calder), who demands nothing from his protégé but unquestioning loyalty in return for his generosity.But when a chance meeting with old school friend Andy (Tiernan) and his wife Cathy (O'Rawe) creates a rift between the pair, Jon must decide whether to continue in his brutal way of life or learn to "Accentuate the positive", redeeming his soul in the process.Ostensibly a story charting the relationship between a trainee demon and his Luciferian master, Mr In-Between suffered from one of the most unexpected distribution mishaps: it was originally screened at 2001's Toronto Film Festival, just in time for September 11.As with Paul Tickell's Christy Malry's Own Double Entry, scheduled for release around the same period, such dark and uncompromising material had a hard time finding favour among potential backers, until a comfortable two years had passed. As long-time Atom Egoyan collaborator director Paul Sarossy says, "Mr In-Between is definitely a challenging film. The comfortable resolution of Hollywood films, where the hero gets the 'maiden' and the bad guy gets his just desserts: that doesn't happen in this movie." The trouble is, in attempting to shoehorn novelist Neil Cross's existential meditation on free will into a more palatable British crime flick, Mr In-Between's makers have produced a bit of a mess. Much, it must be said, like Cross's source novel, but that at least had its odd moments of brilliance.Sadly, this film adaptation contains nothing of the sort. Though admittedly possessing an admirably arch (if overly self-conscious) gallows humour, one suspects dialogue exchanges like, "Killing's a useful form of social Darwinism", or "I feel like a drink", "Where do you fancy?" "Oblivion", are actually meant to be taken with the utmost seriousness. The sledgehammer symbolism (much hand-washing abounds) also begins to annoy pretty quickly.

Kevin_Keegans_Perm An absolute pile of rubbish, shocking for shocking sack with quite a ridiculous premise. Poorly written and with a pace more akin to a 3 legged donkey I would give this a wide birth. I cannot understand why this has been given any positive comments. The acting is wooden to say the least, with Andrew Howard as lead, an actor I have not seen before and some have been waxing lyrical about his performance in Mr In-Between man need only to see his CV after this film to realise he was terrible.The film is littered with TV actors from the UK and it shows. There is no zip or fizz about anything and even the 'shocking' conclusion is handled in a quite naive and sterile manner. The humour is misplaced and tries to lighten a far fetched story. Avoid at all costs.Terrible, don't be fooled that this is good just because it shocks.

tatra-man This is one of the darkest, most intense, thrillers I think I've ever seen. The director Paul Sarossy brings a really dark visual tone to the film, which lifts it well out of the ordinary for a British movie. Andrew Howard gives a mesmerising performance as the tormented hitman of the title. The film also boasts one of the most shocking endings I can remember.Mr In-Between really sticks in the memory. It has a strong intellectual side, a tender love story, as well as more visceral thrills. But most of all, it will leave you shaken in a way that few films even dare these days.

jpalmer-4 Best Brit thriller in ten years. After despairing of ever seeing a Brit film which didn't come with a "Love Me" tag, I happened on this film. It eschews all the normal baggage that comes with gangster/crime films and replaces it with a terrifying exploration of the nature of evil. A total original, as if Harry Lime's monstrous son had carried on the family tradition and called himself the Tattooed Man.But love will conquer all, right? Not in this film it won't. If you see only one British film in the next decade make sure it's Mr Inbetween. If you see only one Hollywood film in the next decade make sure it has the trailer of Mr Inbetween playing beforehand.