14 July 2000
Source: The Guardian (Film Unlimited)
Review
Andrew Pulver
Such is the parlous state of British cinema these days, that simple
competence can feel like a substantial achievement. Essex Boys
is an imaginary backstory to the Rettendon Range Rover murders
and, put together by TV directing-producing team Terry Winsor
and Jeff Pope, possesses the now-precious virtues of coherence
and workmanlike efficiency.
Sean Bean is the central figure, an acid-throwing nutter fresh
out of jail and desperate for a drug connection to provide some
financial security; Alex "Moll Flanders" Kingston his
hard-as-nails wife.
And though asked to provide yards of geezer-esque voiceover, Charlie
Creed-Miles outdoes the pair of them as wannabe-face Billy, a
likely lad behind the wheel.
What, however, saves Essex Boys from foundering in the mire that's
sucked down practically all recent British gangster films is its
intelligent use of the county's locations, from the Southend seafront
to the north bank of the Dartford river crossing.
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