The Last Heist

As is usual from a London based gangster film there’s a lot of swearing and bonhomie chatter between villains. As well as the usual life advice that you don’t grass, involve families or steal from friends that Colin Corleone gang boss Mick (Perry Benson) tells his son who has just seen his dad oversee a man’s head plunged into a deep fat frier, because he did all these things.

The talk of loyalty and banter between villains is high when the late Mick’s gang and family meet up after the last heist to get the contents of Mick’s security box goes wrong. It would have set them up for life and a chance to leave crime behind.

Gathering in the family club, with Dina (Emily Wyatt) behind the bar are Fisherman (Ricky London), Prozac (Sam Gittens), Mick’s son Slips (Michael Head) and Waldorf (Terry Stone) who begin to argue about the robbery and indulge in stories about the old days that inevitably leads to a lot of blood, laughter and violence. This is all standard stuff that gets turned on its head in the third act leading to more contemplative exchanges between the villains.

That just about saves the film that was drifting into cliché amid a torrent of Fs and Cs that come very close to ruining the film, overwhelming what is a decent story by Michael Head and Lucinda Royden.

Directed by Coz Greenop, the change of tone of may not come as too much of a surprise for seasoned viewers as the heist washup is interspersed with the robbery and other parts of gang’s life so that background and context are provided.

It’s a solid attempt at something original within the London gangster sub-genre and provides the actors with an opportunity to demonstrate some range away from the now knackered caricatures of the first two acts. However the introspection and remorse are hard to believe bearing in mind what has gone on before but then this is a large element of belief suspension in this film anyway.

The Last Heist is currently available on digital platforms.