Rowan Joffe’s Brighton Rock is set to hit UK theaters on February 4 and Optimum Releasing has issued a new international trailer and poster for the flick, which I saw at the Toronto International Film Festival and was none-too-impressed. Here’s a snippet from my review:
Brighton Rock is the debut feature of screenwriter Rowan Joffe (The American, 28 Weeks Later). Working from his own adaptation of Graham Greene’s 1939 novel, he’s updated the story of a half-wit gangster named Pinkie and his relationship with Rose, a dim-witted tea room waitress, to 1964. There’s a distinct attempt to focus on youth rebellion, but none of it rings true as the characters and their actions are so exaggerated it comes off as silly rather than dramatic or thought-provoking.
The film still doesn’t have a domestic distributor and if it lands one I expect it would either be Magnolia, Magnet or IFC to pick it up for a simultaneous On Demand release followed quickly by a DVD/Blu-ray release. It really isn’t very good despite a rather impressive cast of names including Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Helen Mirren, John Hurt and Andy Serkis.
However, you are obviously welcome to check it out for yourself and gaze upon the trailer and poster featured directly below. I’ll admit, the trailer makes it look like a completely different film and then to see the quote from The Guardian saying “A MASTERPIECE” is laughable.
