Woken up by the gangsters

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

Director: Mike Hodges

Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Clive Owen, Charlotte Rampling, Ken Stott

Cert: 18

Another Brit film set in the world, now a heavily clichéd one, of London gangsters and based on the familiar theme of revenge for the death of a sibling.

Hodges is, to be sure, a fine director and here he has brought together a sterling cast; unfortunately, the film doesn't really hold together because several of the characters don't add up.

Owen, with a strange beard, plays a former East End gangland boss who has now retired, unconvincingly, to live in a van and work as a woodcutter. He is, of course, drawn back to the mean streets when his young drug-dealing brother (Meyers) is found dead, possibly by his own hand. Former rival Stott sees this as his chance to take over the territory; the usual gangster stuff.

It's merely adequate, though it does raise the question: what's with the British film industry, such as it is, and this love of gangsters?

Star Rating: 3/5