The Heavy (2010)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Sometimes I like to check out the rating of a movie that I like...and I like this movie. I like the main character/actor in this...thug with heart. As for vinnie jones, of course hes a good actor...but I never even remember that he's in this when I think of watching this movie...and I've watched it a few times, and Im watching it now over a heineken. Good ending, the music fits. I like it. To sum it up, I recently watched 'the package' with dolf and steve austin...now that was a souless boring movie that I could barely pay attention to, and I like those actors. This movie has heart...and Im guessing cost a lot less to make.

Appalling acting as Freeride said, Stretch is an unappealing anti hero, the guy playing his brother is the worst actor i have seen in many a year, you don't really care what happens to any of them, the story line flies past at 1 mile an hour, Geoff Bell must have been stuck for work same as Christopher Lee, and Vinnie will take on any role as long as it keeps his mush on the silver screen.Avoid at all costs and save your money towards a tooth extraction, it will be more fun. This should have gone straight in the bin and not to DVD, it is time i will never get back, and i kept thinking i have to turn this rubbish off, but i just had to see it through, it was that bad. Never tell a boxer( and the guy playing his insipid brother) he can act i think is the moral here.

This is a pretty decent flick.(from a couch potato point of view) I like lots of action, shooting, people blowing things up and people shooting other people, etc. I don't really know why some others gave it such a poor rating. I just hate for someone to miss out on a good movie based on the review alone, which is what I believe has happened here. I do not by any means claim to be an expert in producing, writing or just basic making of a movie, but I do know a good flick when I see one. Vinnie Jones does a great job in bringing action to the screen, as always. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think one would be sorry if you missed this one just from reading the review alone. If you're an action junkie, like me, spend a few bucks and rent this one. You'll be glad you did.

I had high hopes for this movie. The plot was a man out of jail working as a debt collector for a local business who was asked to do one last job, in order to get out of it all!! then you have his brother Christian (played by an awful Adrian Paul from the Highlander TV series) who was responsible for putting him in prison who wants to make amends for what happened. When i say "make amends" it certainly doesn't pan out in that way. More on this character later. Gary Stretch who plays the lead character Mitchell Mason, has a good on-screen presence, but he is not a leading man. He is surrounded by some heavyweights and some seriously bad "lightweights" that actually make him look like Robert De Niro at times (no offence Bob). He tries his best but even Vinnie Jones as the corrupt cop makes him look like a cardboard cut-out as he hams up the "bad cop" role like a spit-roasted pig.Christopher Lee and Jean Marsh are on show (yet i can't see what possessed them to want to be part of this?) play the parents and some of their scenes are so painful to watch as they are put in scenes with such awful acting that you feel embarrassed for them! Stephen Rea does his best as an upper class bad guy but you still cringe watching the drivel script he has to deal with. Then you have Sadie Frost as a local Bar Owner (i'm not sure what this part of the film's purpose was, as it was pointless). Then you have the worst acting I have seen in a long time. Hang on, 2nd worst!Adrian Paul who plays Mitchell's brother Christian, simply CANNOT act, and that is an understatement. I have seen dead people show more emotion and talent than this guy. I think the director actually did him a favour in hiring the actress to play his wife as she is even worse, and that must have been tough. The acting by these 2 characters would've been perfect in an Olaf Ittenbach horror movie. Yes, its that bad!!The storyline is all over the place as it tries to be cool and modern by going back and forth in the timelines. I think the film would have worked better if they had just done it from first date to last. I think new directors must think this works in gangster style movies but in this one it fails.On a plus point, the scenes with Shannyn Sossamon (Claire) are the high points of the film. If only they had put more into this than they did, it could've actually been a good film. There is definitely a chemistry there between the 2 characters and they should have focused on this a lot more. I would say Shannyn's performance is one of the better ones overall.The last 20-30 minutes of this film are actually not bad, if you can endure the first 70 minutes. But don't expect anything special with this film. You won't get it!! Best thing to do? go and dig out Going Off Big Time. Similar film but better acting, script, plot, etc.