Johnny Was (2006)

Johnny Was: Directed by Mark Hammond. With Vinnie Jones, Patrick Bergin, Laurence Kinlan, Eriq La Salle. Johnny Was is a gritty gangster drama set in the tough city of Brixton, London. Johnny (Vinnie Jones) is trying to escape his violent past by living a simple “quiet life”.

“Attended Rebelfest in Toronto where this won the Sony Audience Award and as a fellow filmmaker enjoyed meeting some of the guys involved in making it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe mix of voices in the movie was really different – Jamaican, Irish, English and a lot of people have commented on the soundtrack of reggae, which was well used.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSome aspects were not so great – technical production left a bit to be desired, but I suppose this is low budget indie problems always.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eActing wise I think Vinnie Jones was good and while I read some comment about him not doing a good Irish accent, unless Iu0026#39;ve completely missed the point I thought he was supposed to be a Londoner whose family came from Ireland, which would mean he spoke like a Londoner – which to my ears he did.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnother small grumble is that Roger Daltrey is very good but should have had a bigger role. He has an interesting character, but it just comes and goes.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI agree with the comments on Samantha Mumba – a bit too healthy looking for a junkie. On the other hand, Lennox Lewis, who I was expecting to be just a celeb cameo did really well in an interesting role as a DJ running an illegal music station.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnyway – we enjoyed it, so congrats to cast and crew from someone who knows how hard it is to get indie movies made.”