emily-583 This is a deeply powerful and real film, wonderfully portraying the rage and madness which results from festering anger and resentment left unchecked. Billy Connolly plays a reformed thug living a new life as a respectable artist who is dragged back into the cycle of violence and revenge by Ken Stott's character, the policeman who originally caught him.I loved the realism of the relationships between the people. Nothing was left to the imagination and nothing was exaggerated, leaving bare the anger, fear, pain and regret which rules the characters during this horrible time in their lives.If you like Billy Connolly, watch this film. If you like gritty Scottish films, watch it. If you like good films which will play with your emotions, this is one to watch.

rogertaylor1947 This could have been a great film as the four protagonists each put in a strong performance especially Francesca Annis who is brilliant.It attempts to be a serious examination about whether a man's abhorrent violent past can ever be forgiven by his victims and whether those who take their duty to serve to protect seriously, like the police officer Gary Keltie,(Ken Stott) (who had been instrumental in taking him off the streets some 18 years ago) who don't believe Nickie Dryden (Billy Connolly) is a changed man. Haunting all those directly involved are the harrowing past images of the torture and mayhem he inflicted on his victims.The film makes a well made contrast between those who can easily forgive because it is but a remote experience which happened to others of which they know little and those who have suffered either as victims or as those who were emotionally related to those victims. To the Edinburgh arty literati he had paid his price according to the official judicial system by serving a long jail sentence for murder and by appearing reformed through his talent developed in prison which squares his past and placates their easy conscience to forgive. Their easy forgiveness is contrasted to those who actually suffered whose still open wounds are articulated by the police detective Keltie character. The scepticism and disbelief of these silent witnesses is passionately articulated by the Gary Keltie,(Ken Stott)character.It is unusual for a film to show so clearly this demarcation and divergence between the two views depending on where you are standing. Objectivity and forgiveness is easy if you are not a victim yourself and this is wonderfully brought out later in the film when one of those to whom he is now close but to whom past is another country has to live through the same torments when someone dear to them is murdered in a similarly bloody and brutal way to that by which Nickie Dryden had dispatched his earlier victim for which he had served his 18 years. Despite all the fancy surroundings which Dryden's talent and infamy combined have brought him, including his very "uptown girl" writer wife Val, played by Francesca Annis (who Keltie believes is partly attracted by the aura of his past infamy) Keltie believes him to be a fake: as also interestingly does the wannabe thug Flipper (Iain Robertson) who hero worships Dryden's past image.If it had stuck to portraying in a more realistic way the central theme of which, if either, of the 3 views (1) whether or not Dryden's debt "to society" is repaid by serving the officially sanctioned sentence and coming out a seemingly reformed character and accepted in official society or (2) whether he really is faking at being a changed man and (3) whether his debt can ever repaid and forgiven by his real victims (or those close to them) and those whose job it is to protect them, then this would have been a great film.As it is where it all falls apart into disbelief are several volcanic graphic, outrageous, completely over the top scenes, where the Gary Keltie,(Ken Stott) character himself commits violent acts which go way beyond angst and disbelief over demonstrating to himself and those he seeks to protect, that Nickie Dryden (Billy Connolly) can ever be anything but the psychopath he knew and put away. The only purpose of two of these scenes, the one at the art gallery and the other at a wedding that I can think of is that it contrasts the real difficulty which those who were or witnessed at 1st hand his victims suffering have in forgiving someone who harmed them with those to whom the remote experience of his perpetrated violence means very little. The 3rd scene is just so ridiculous and outrageous as it descends from an advocacy by Keltie by public challenges to the legitimacy of official forgiveness to that of private and personal revenge thereby descending to the similar level of depravity as the criminals whose behaviour he hates so much.The script seems to be saying that by Keltie being unable to contemplate a reformed perpetrator he sets in motion his own destruction being unable to shake off his "lifer" grudge against Dryden.I find it difficult for even the most conscientious detective, 18 years on, to be so obsessed to the point of near insanity with one particular past criminal given the number of hard cases he would have come across in the meantime especially one who is no longer trying to reestablish himself on old stomping grounds (literally) that he would jeopardise not only his career but put his life on the line to pursue a current non-criminal even if he is completely convinced that Nickie Dryden is a fraud.

Andy Croft I rated this film a 6 due to the fact I only seen it ten years after its release. I had read the reviews and expected a lot more than the film delivered. If I had not read the glowing reviews I would have probably would have rated it higher. The raw story of a reformed former debt collector (Billy Connolly) and obsessive police officer(Ken Stott)who wants to give the now successful former villain a hard time. He pushes the boundaries of the law and events happen due to his obsession. Then you get the villain worshiping teenager who idolizes the former gangster(Connolly). He wants to prove himself and make a name for himself. As you may expect the end to the wannabe gangster is inevitable. There is some good hardcore violence scenes in this movie which could have been worked more. Connolly and Stott play two excellent roles and the casting is well suited for the characters.This movie is without a doubt worth a watch if you like the Lock Stock violent type of movie.It is a raw film but for me I would of liked to see more of the rawness come through.Give it a go. Especially now it is in the weekly section of the Video store.

Tav-2 This was a good film, with excellent performances. Billy Connolly adds yet another great performance to his growing list of acting achievements. Violent movie, but very realistic, at points in the movie we had sympathies for main male characters, however that does not last until the end of the film, by which time we came to despise them both.Very much reminded me of the Jimmy Boyle story, for those of you who know of & about him, with Connolly performing that role, indeed I believe he spoke with Boyle prior to filming.Not a good advert for Edinburgh though!