Wasteland (2012)
34KWasteland (2012). 1h 48m
“STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morningu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHarvey (Luke Treadaway) is a bright boy with his head screwed on, who has just been released from prison after being framed for drug dealing by the villainous Roper (Neil Maskell), who was none too pleased that Harvey got shacked up with his ex, Nicola (Vanessa Kirby.) But now he finds himself in an interview room with D.I. West (Timothy Spall), relaying the tale of how he and his friends planned to break in to a run down working menu0026#39;s club and steal Roperu0026#39;s ill-gotten gains from a secure safe located in there, only for things not to work out quite how they seemed.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSomething gave me the impression on first glance that this little seen, independent crime flick was set south side, expecting a typical smattering of the usual cockney lingo and rhyming slang, only to get a surprise and find it set north of the border, which allowed for no such stereotypes. And so this debut feature length production from director Rowan Athale seeks desperately to break the typical conventions of the genre, a modest budget offering with aspirations above itu0026#39;s station, which despite being a little messy in itu0026#39;s execution and possibly even a little over ambitious, is still impressively intelligent and complex, and could actually stand to a second viewing just to make sense of it all.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eComing from the plot point of two men talking in a room, itu0026#39;s a dialogue driven film, and itu0026#39;s striving for a Tarantino style of execution and delivery, which it manages with a sense of fluency and eloquence. Itu0026#39;s intelligent and well written, but not exactly a realistic depiction of how nefarious types of this background and age group would probably speak. At points it all feels a bit heavy and over bearing, and is a little disconcerting as a result. Still, you canu0026#39;t fault itu0026#39;s ambition, and itu0026#39;s carried out with aplomb by lead stars Treadaway, Maskell and veteran Spall. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhile it canu0026#39;t help but project a messy, convoluted sort of feel, itu0026#39;s lying in the gutter but aiming for the stars, a low grade thriller with ambition and intelligence to set it that little bit above the rest. ***”
