Outlaw (2007 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Outlaw | |
|---|---|
 UK promotional movie poster for the film |
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| Directed by | Nick Love |
| Produced by | Guy Pearson Crystal Ambrose Jeff Kingsland Ben Morris Paul Morris Lynn Fensome |
| Written by | Nick Love |
| Starring | Sean Bean Danny Dyer Lennie James Rupert Friend Sean Harris Bob Hoskins |
| Music by | David Julyan |
| Cinematography | Sam McCurdy |
| Editing by | Stuart Gazzard |
| Distributed by | Vertigo Films |
| Release date(s) | March 9, 2007 |
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £2,500,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
Outlaw is a 2007 film by director Nick Love, starring Sean Bean, Danny Dyer, Bob Hoskins, Lennie James, Rupert Friend and Sean Harris.
A group of people who feel betrayed by their government and let down by their police force form a modern-day outlaw posse in order to right what they see as the wrongs of society.
Tagline: There will be no excuses. The guilty will be punished. No one is above OUTLAW
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film begins by exploring stories involving a number of different characters, all of whom have experiences which lead them to believe that justice in the country is not being handed out fairly or sufficiently.
These characters include Gene Dekker (Danny Dyer), who is violently beaten by yobs following a car accident. Danny Bryant (Sean Bean) is a soldier who arrives back from abroad to find his wife with someone else, and also believes that the state of the country is worse than the war-torn places he has recently served in. Barrister Cedric Munroe (Lennie James) receives death threats towards his family, being told they will only be safe if he pulls out of the case against drug dealer Terry Manning, in which he is currently prosecuting. University student Sandy Mardell (Rupert Friend) has only recently left hospital, though the thugs who scarred him for life were released from prison before he had made his recovery.
Through the help of jingoistic hotel security guard Simon Hillier (Sean Harris), the men form a vigilante gang, targeting individuals that they determine to be a blight on society. Information on said targets is provided to them by Munroe's police contact Walter Lewis (Bob Hoskins). They work through targets associated with Manning, whose men went ahead with their threat against Munroe's pregnant wife, killing her and their unborn child.
The gang attract media attention and become known as the "Outlaws", but get themselves into trouble when they reveal their identities to one of Manning's men, Ian Furlong, yet fail to kill him. As a result Furlong kills Lewis, and Bryant, the leader of the outlaws, is subsequently framed for the murder. Following this the gang go their separate ways, though not before Bryant hangs Hillier for questioning his authority and insulting his wife.
As they all go back to their day-to-day lives, Manning is released from custody because of lack of prosecution. Bryant confronts Furlong in a pub regarding Manning's location, to which Bryant shoots Furlong through the head. Dekker receives word from colleague Frank that he learned from his brother that Manning is hiding in the countryside. Dekker flees his wedding to contact Munroe when he realises that he cannot live a normal life while letting Manning get away. The pair contact Mardell, who after meeting up with Bryant, decides that they will not survive the attack on Manning's home. Bryant, Munroe and Dekker infiltrate Manning's home, yet quickly discover that it is a trap with armed police soon arriving outside. The three outlaws engage in a gunfight with the police and manage to flee into the woods for one final showdown. Dekker is shot in the shoulder and Bryant is killed while advancing towards the armed response squad. Munroe willingly surrenders only to be murdered by the now blatantly corrupt police officers. When it appears that all the vigilantes are dead, Dekker is revealed to still be alive and was playing dead. He successfully escapes through the forest, pursued by gunshots.
The final scene shows Frank being handed an envelope of cash by Terry Manning in his workplace's car park. As the drug lord drives away he is confronted by a gun-wielding Dekker. Manning sneers at Dekker, saying "You haven't got the bollocks, son", to which Gene continues to smile. The film ends with him pulling the trigger.
[edit] Cast
- Sean Bean as Danny Bryant
- Danny Dyer as Gene Dekker
- Bob Hoskins as Walter Lewis
- Lennie James as Cedric Munroe
- Sean Harris as Simon Hillier
- Rupert Friend as Sandy Mardell
[edit] Trivia
A lot of the funding for this film came from fans of Nick Love who paid between £10 and £100 for various perks such as inside information on the movie, merchandise and, for those who paid £100, a chance at being an extra in the film.
From imdb.com: Nick Love is basing the screenplay on newspaper stories and anecdotes he's been told from people all over the country. The narrative will be fictional, but many of the incidents portrayed will be based on fact.
The Website included a game called "Nonce Hunter" and said "Use your pistol, assault rifle and sniper rifle to kill those evil nonces and get to have a shot at Fred West and Ian Huntley - the main nonces" but the word "nonce" has since been removed, and replaced with "Perp" and the game's description has changed slightly too.
Parts of the film were filmed in the Forest of Dean and Gloucester.
[edit] Reception
The film opened to mixed reviews, The Daily Mirror slammed the film calling it 'simplistic' and 'muddled' and gave it 2 out of 5 and 1 out of 5 in their Friday and Sunday issues respectively[citation needed]. Some media outlets have praised the film, such as The Independent[1], News of the World[citation needed] and The Guardian[citation needed], The News of the World described the film as 'bold' and gave it 4 stars out of 5[citation needed]. The film has been criticised by many for 'excessive violence'[citation needed].
Outlaw entered the UK box office at Number 5 in its first week, but then dropped before closing at many cinemas. The DVD was released on July 9, 2007.
