Director: Sacha Bennett
Cast: Tamer Hassan, Terry Stone, Vincent Regan, Adam Deacon, Neil Maskell
Released: Friday, September 3, 2010
Considering the rate Tamer Hassan manages to churn out films, you’d be forgiven for thinking Bonded by Blood is just another London gangster film without the guilty pleasure of Danny Dyer. But in truth, it’s surprisingly alright.
Adapted from Bernard O’Mahoney’s novel, Bonded by Blood is the ‘true story’ of career criminals and drug suppliers, Tony Tucker (Terry Stone), Patrick Tate (Tamer Hassan) and Craig Rolfe (Neil Maskell) also known as the Essex Boys. The film follows their rise and untimely death on a snowy December night inside a Range Rover back in 1995.
While the film isn’t exactly packed with emotional undertones, (Hassan uses the phrase, “shit cunt”, as a term of endearment towards a female) the acting is pretty solid across the board. Although Hassan continues to be typecast by playing the hard-man, he is menacing in his portrayal of Tate, particularly scenes featuring his estranged wife. A slimmed down Neil Maskell also impresses, but the film’s producer, Terry Stone, who makes up the evil threesome is a tad weak.
Sacha Bennet’s glossy, stylised direction is fine, managing to bring some tension to certain scenes, but much like Rise of the Footsoldier among others, the “gangsters are cool” message rings hard here.
The main gripe however, comes in the form of the poorly underwritten script which seems to prefer cocaine and blowjobs to proper exposition. The gang’s transformation from criminals to drug fuelled wrong’uns isn’t fully clear, while a ‘romantic’ subplot involving a rival gang member and Tate’s wife is substituted for, you guessed it, more cocaine and blowjobs.
It might not be groundbreaking, and certainly has its flaws, but Bonded by Blood does exactly what it sets out to do and is executed well enough to make for an guiltily entertaining 90 minutes.
★★★★★
Check out our exclusive clip of Tamer Hassan in action in Bonded by Blood.
*Contains strong language* (Which won’t mean much if you’ve just read this review)
