MovieChat Forums > London Road (2015) Discussion > Pure Crap

Pure Crap

posted 9 years ago by tommarkhoulton
18 replies | jump to latest

'London Road' (2015; released in UK cinemas today) is one & a half hours of pure boredom.

It is a collection of everything that is wrong with British drama & film.

The subject matter of 'The Ipswich Ripper' (2006) readied me for a dark & gritty depiction of the terrible murders of those poor five prostitutes.
How wrong I was...

The supposedly groundbreaking verbal structure of a mix of spoken/sung dialogue, is both unoriginal & badly executed.
The songs all blur into one long, uninteresting confusing & out-of-context pieces of real-life interviews.

The performances are generally abysmal, with an insulting Hunchback-Of-Notre-Dame-esque portrayal of a wrongly suspected taxi driver, from an over-acting & very self-conscious Tom Hardy.
Even Olivia Colman didn't live up to her reputation here; giving a mediocre performance that felt as if she had been cast the morning shooting began.

The stage show (National Theatre (surprise, surprise!)) must have been just as boring. But at least audiences didn't have to sit through the stereotypical camera shots, which feature in about ever British drama made today. About half of the film's shots must have been of fake concerned faces peering out of windows.

I found myself begging & pleading for it to end (something I never usually do in films & especially in ones based on true stories).
Unfortunately, it wouldn't even give me that and made 90 minutes feel like 180.

It was both crass & offensive, at the same time.
If you're breathing, do not see this film; it might make you stop.

1/5

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] huwdj 9 years ago

It is the actual words of the people who lived on the same street some of which are set to music. They must have used a very small amount of the recordings made over the years and the phrases are repeated to build the rythem. The music ebbs and flows, some times brilliantly and some times less so. Bit overall this is not a musical, there are no songs as such, but thenmusic and words drives the film along very powerfully at times.

[–] Euanbet2-732-34057 9 years ago

I'm a big Tom Hardy fan and I normally go to see all his films as and when they are released in cinemas.
I didn't bother with this because I don't like musicals and I find a musical like this to be even less appealing.

I'm disappointed to hear that Tom's performance might be described as over-acting. Tom is usually very on point in his roles. sometimes he's larger than life and other times he is very subtle and understated. But he's not perfect and everyone hits a bum note now and then.

Of course, I'm saying all this without having seen the movie. But your review seems to contain every reservation I have about this film.

[–] huwdj 9 years ago

I thought he did what he did well - but he's hardly in the film really so purely in terms of screen time you're not missing much.

[–] a-movie-fan 9 years ago

I agree!!

I love Olivia Coleman, and wow, what an all-round performer she is!! Just when I think there's nothing more she can do, she does it. However, this time, it was Tom Hardy's performance, as short as it is, that stole the show for me.

Overacting?? How do you come to that conclusion, I wonder?? If a friend ever happens to buy the DVD, I'll only be borrowing it to watch Hardy's performance. It's just his nuance, the ever so slight facial movement, the swipe under the nose when mentioning a certain substance. Priceless!

I have never been a fan of movie musicals, but with a good cast and it being a true story, I thought I'd give it a go. It did drive me crazy a few times with it's repetitiveness, but I pushed through (just) and by the end, I really did have a good feel for what happened on London Road at that time.

But sorry, still not a fan of musicals.

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[–] bryhain84 9 years ago

I had reservations about watching a musical but it was the fact that Tom Hardy was in it which swayed me. For someone with top billing I was quite annoyed by the time I (somehow) got to the end without seeing him. I thought perhaps I'd imagined it or that it was a differnt Tom Hardy, so came back to IMDB and then I find out that he was the taxi driver, who was in it for a couple of minutes only. Top billing indeed!

As for the musical aspect, it was not only boring but very irritating. Yes, I know that it was the actual recordings of people turned into "song" because I reached the credits when they played the recordings. Hearing the recordings did nothing to change the fact that it was very poorly done.

[–] albo2005 9 years ago

agreed - cannot believe this film has a 7.3 rating.

It was comically awful

[–] dawulfchylde 9 years ago

It's a special kind of bad that can only come from pretentious clowns trying to force art out of a bad concept.

The high aggregate score will come from a combination of people associated with the production, their friends and families, along with tragically hip people who don't want to seem simple-minded by disliking the film, and so vote higher than they really should.

[–] cm-parham 9 years ago

It's a special kind of bad that can only come from pretentious clowns trying to force art out of a bad concept.

The high aggregate score will come from a combination of people associated with the production, their friends and families, along with tragically hip people who don't want to seem simple-minded by disliking the film, and so vote higher than they really should.

A post like this can be found in the boards of almost every alternative or art house film on IMDB, and I always find them to be narrow minded, whether I've personally liked the movie or not.

.....In the case LONDON ROAD, such a post is spot on...

[–] gtpunch 9 years ago

Spot on. The score is dropping now that it is getting more real ratings.

I was thinking of seeing this in the Cinema, thank god I dodged that bullet. Couldn't sit through more than 10 minutes of it before skipping through to see if it got better - it got worse.

[–] benman46 9 years ago

The one thing you can rely on on a message board is some moron saying a high rating is due to voting by people associated with the production etc. You don't seem to mind appearing simple minded.

[–] gtpunch 9 years ago

Seems they were correct though, the score is down to 5.8/10 from 424 votes now.

[–] bryhain84 9 years ago

It's not moronic or simple minded to make that assertion, it's very obviously correct. The only moron is someone who, having looked at the clear indicators, disagrees.

[–] a-movie-fan 8 years ago

@ benman46 ...

The one thing you can rely on on a message board is some moron saying a high rating is due to voting by people associated with the production etc. You don't seem to mind appearing simple minded.

Just wondering... did you actually read what you wrote before posting it?? How do you know who votes for these movies? It is odd that quite often, movies have extremely high ratings but very few have viewed it. Suddenly, when the masses begin to trickle in, the rating drops and those lonely few original ratings seem quite extreme in comparison.

So, somebody said they believe some ratings are falsified. How the hell does that make some-one, anyone, a moron and not just your average, run-of-the-mill moron, but one appearing to be simple-minded?? Do you have experience in this field? Just asking!?!

Are you aware of say, false advertising; photo-shopped images; manipulation of people, houses, cars, clothes, blenders, fitness equipment along with the good-old, 'It's in the fine print?' People have been manipulating others for the sake of money for centuries. Are you seriously, that blind??

Ciao!

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~ Films Watched... ~ 6,270+ ~ http://tinyurl.com/amoviefan-imdb-watched

~ ~ ALL Movies Listed ... have been watched in their ENTIRETY ~ ~

[–] benman46 9 years ago

I saw the film and my breathing is fine. Another ill informed message board rant.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] benman46 8 years ago

I would hardly call one sentence a rant, would you. A rant is done at LENGTH. Make sure you understand the meaning of words next time.

Sbogom.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]