dierregi Take any Tarantino/Ritchie gangsters movie, Carlito's way, Sexy Beast, some fragrance ads, shake well and the result is London Boulevard.Farrell is Mitchel, a gangster released from prison who wants to stay "clean" - major cliché - He has a slutty sister (Friel as Briony, the most annoying character in the movie) and a sleazy business associate (Chaplin as Billy, with greasy long hair and speaking with a thick accent).Very randomly Mitchel gets a job as bodyguard for Charlotte, a millionaire movie star, hunted by paparazzi. At this stage it starts to look like two movies randomly stuck together and unfortunately, random is the key word of this plot development. Knightley - as megastar Charlotte - is terrible. Her delivery is stiff and flat and we get the full Knightley package of quivering lips, beady eyes, thick bangs and fashionable rags that barely cover her emaciated frame Knightley's face plastered around London reminded me she is a perfume-salesperson (I mean "testimonial"). When she was on screen, I expected to see the fragrance she advertises among other product placements. At some stage the random plot introduces Winstone, allegedly a big crime lord, sporting elegant clothes, glasses and a beard to fool us into believing he is not Winstone. I could hardly hear a word he said because - I guess - his voice coach suggested that whispering makes a criminal seem more dangerous.None of the characters is sympathetic: Mitchel is as violent as his associates, Charlotte's problem is that she is too rich and famous, Winstone is a brutal thug, Briony is a silly slut, Billy a coward, etc…Sub-plots and characters (the beggar, the policeman, Charlotte's live-in friend, the doctor…) appear and disappear randomly and way too late the movie reaches its plagiarist ending.PS the soundtrack is good though, very Swinging London

cinecephale I am very ambivalent about this film. It is a real pleasure to see so many great actors, all at the top of their game: Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley, Ray Winstone, Thewlis. But the script is all over the place and in the end, deeply unconvincing. It is as if the filmmaker couldn't make up his mind about what story he wanted to tell: a story about celebrity? cinema? gangsters? a love story between a star and a nobody? revenge? redemption? Maybe a better writer could have pulled it, but it is not the case here. Just the duel between Winstone and Farrell would have made a great movie, but why throw in a traumatized movie star, and a nymphomaniac sister and a killer producer and who the hell was Joe that was killed in the beginning?! It is just too much, too many useless characters, to many storie lines, too hard to believe, too much plot holes. Still it is weirdly entertaining, thanks to Winstone and Farrell's wonderful charisma. It is really a case where the actors pleasure and work almost redeem a very, very bad script.

BearGlove Actually good film. It's about gangster who doesn't want to be that any more. It shows that you can't just walk away from people/business, if you want it. You have to be bad when messing with bad guys. If you want to leave it you have to remove the bad guys first. Cause if you have something to lose, you will eventually lost it. Don't have mercy. Do what you must. Know who to trust. The more you wait, the more damage can be done to you. Movie is not full of action but has good story with enough action to keep it going. If you love action or movies with gangsters you will love it. Clearly underrated movie, it deserves 8, no less.

Jay CG I asked the DVD store guy for an action ROM-com.He misunderstood what I said with romantic-drama and gave me this DVD.I watch British movies now & then 7 liked most of them.So, went ahead and bought it.I rushed to my home to watch it(BTW I know you don't wanna know you don't give a damn about why & where I 've bought the DVD but I wrote it because of the 10 line rule of IMDb).Now about the movie,it was a stereophonic European movie in which everyone died at the end except Keira Knightly.From the beginning till the end it had too much of conversation and less of action really made me go to sleep.If there is anything I liked in this movie,then It would be,Ferrel punching Winstone's girlfriend & Ray Winstone killing Anna Friel.I was pretty much disappointed with the movie and would recommend it only if you like movies with -'ve ending.