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All Things to All Men

5/10

Stars: Rufus Sewell, Toby Stephens, Gabriel Byrne, Leo Gregory, Elsa Pataky, Julian Sands, Terence Maynard, James Frain, David Schofield

Director: George Isaac

An unfathomable crime thriller whuich pits corrupt cops (Sewell, Gregory, Maynard) and their corrupt superiors, (Frain, Schofield) against a kingpin fence (Byrne), his right-hand man (Sands) and their gunsels. Also involved in a plot which even Sherlock Holmes would be hard-pushed to unravel are Stephens as a hitman/lone robber seeking to avenge his brother, Pataky as a black widow seeking to avenge her husband, and a mysterious character called The Turk, to whom Sewell owes five million pounds (as you do) and is prepared to double-cross his partners to get it.

But then I may have missed something. And there are diamonds and bonds in there somewhere.

It all ends, as many crime flicks seem to do these days, in a mass shoot-out, this one at the disused Battersea Power Station,, which leaves most of its participants dead on the floor.

The film is at least slickly made and has very sharp widescreen photography (by Howard Atherton), which helps make the most of a variety of London settings. Acting is pretty variable, but Gregory, moving closer to centre stage than usual, and Stephens are both good. And there's a car chase. Of course.

David Quinlan

UK 2012. UK Distributor: Cipher Films. Technicolor.
84 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 1, Swearing 2.

Review date: 02 Apr 2013