JoeytheBrit It's difficult to know where to start describing all the things that are wrong about this movie while also explaining why it was reasonably entertaining. I can understand why some (many) other reviewers felt The Heavy was an awful experience – I just can't quite share their absolute disdain for it.Gary Stretch plays Boots Mason, an embittered ex-con with anger management issues who is employed to assassinate his own brother Christian, a politician with aspirations to one day become Prime Minister (so we know he's a bad guy right from the off). However, Christian has learned of the plot to off him and hires the thuggish Detective Dunne (Vinnie Jones, sporting a rather splendid goatee of which he seems justifiably proud) to track down the assassin.While this is no classic by anyone's reckoning, it somehow just about manages to overcome a high quota of drawbacks in order to deliver a reasonably absorbing thriller that runs out of steam about fifteen minutes from the credits thanks largely to an overlong running time. Ex-boxer Stretch certainly has screen presence, and the camera likes his brooding, slightly battered looks, but his acting talent is limited – something of which he seems to be aware given the careful manner in which he delivers his lines. His character broods moodily for much of the film, but then he's got a lot to brood over. Vinnie Jones as his nemesis, the brutish Detective Dunn, gives a much more assured performance and effortlessly enlivens things when he lumbers onto the screen. Other familiar faces include Stephen Rea as a slimy crime baron, Christopher Lee as Boot's dad, Jean Marsh as his mum, and Lee Ryan as slimy Steve's weaselly sidekick.Apart from its' overlong running time, the film's major stumbling block is the truly bad acting, a flaw not helped by a dull script that lacks any purpose other than to move the action on to the next scene. Given the quality of the cast, the poor standard of the acting is something of a surprise. By far the worst is Adrian Paul as Boots' terminally ill brother, whose use of inflection is so misjudged that he seems to have no idea of what he is actually saying. I've honestly seen more convincing delivery from foreign actors speaking English they have learned phonetically. Jean Marsh is also entirely unconvincing as Boots' mum.

Philip Mackenzie This film actually fascinated me. The cast are quite a mixed bunch and from all acting backgrounds. I was amazed to see Lee Ryan i had to do a double take but I thought his character was great and he played it well. Vinnie Jones always adds a threatening presence to the screen but this time it is on the right side of the law.Gary Stretch just plays it cool .To summarise this up this is not your standard action film At first i struggled with the film, but after watching it all the way through realise that it has its own type of style "in a good way" and the music suits the film.Itseems to be like the European type hit men films.Christopher Lee and Jean Marsh add some heavy names to the cast but to be honest are not on screen long enough to shine. My advice give it a chance and enjoy watching some good British actors working together.

Pablo1982 Whilst it is good to see some new stuff coming out of the British film industry I didn't quite enjoy this film as much as I had hopedFor one thing, Obstructive Cardiomyopathy is indeed a nasty disease and it is indeed familial. However, I spent most of the move trying to figure out exactly what Boots had to give for his brother as a heart transplant would leave him... well, dead. So this gap in the plot was too irreconcilable for me to be honest The characters aren't too complex and seemed to float in and out of scene a little too much. more could have been revealed about Boot's pastThe clocks were a nice touchOn the whole the film was watchable and made for a nice movie whilst the wife was out on a girls night out.

chicagopoetry Fair warning, The Heavy is not action packed or very suspenseful. It is a pretty slow moving drama about a reluctant assassin hired to kill his own brother. There is a failed attempt to keep things interesting by scrambling the time line with a sort of Pulp Fiction feel but it doesn't work. Nothing really makes any sense, why the woman who is being held captive isn't tied up or why the crack shot needs fifty bullets to put one in the bad guy's head and so on and so forth. The script is just contrived to keep things moving along for one of the longest hour and a halves that you are likely to experience. The Heavy is a pretty well made bad movie but a bad movie nonetheless.