Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5726 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-07-09
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Outlaw is no easy film, with no easy answers. The latest from writer/director Nick Love, previously behind The Football Factory and The Business, it tells the story of a Britain overrun with crime, with no one willing to stand up to it.

Until, that is, a group of people--led by Sean Bean's Bryant--decide to effectively take matters into their own hands. And so, with each of this group having their own reasons for their actions, they start to exact a form of revenge on the those who have wronged them, laying the scene for an interesting vigilante crime-thriller.

Amidst a fair cavalcade of at-times quite brutal violence, Outlaw has a real feeling and message at the heart of it. But you'd be hard pushed to say that the message is well handled, or that it's the main reason for watching the film. Instead, the strengths are some of the performances (Bean is joined by the likes of Bob Hoskins, Lennie James and Dannie Dyer) and the increasingly confident direction from Love. At times it's blistering to watch, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you feel.

Ultimately, though, Outlaw, in spite of its strengths, is a mixed bag, yet one with plenty to recommend it. It's a well-made, diverting film, albeit not one for the squeamish, and while it's got its fair share of flaws, you're unlikely to be disappointed by it. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
A group of disillusioned citizens who have been the victims of crime decide to organise and take the law into their own hands. After returning to England after fighting in Iraq, Bryant (Sean Bean, THE LORD OF THE RINGS – THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING) relocates to London. He finds that the area he has moved to is in the grip of lawlessness. Fellow members of the community who have been subjected to criminal acts approach him and he decides to organise the men into a vigilante gang in order to restore justice to the streets. The gang, which includes Gene Dekker (Danny Dyer, THE FOOTBALL FACTORY) and three other members besides Bryant, are fed information on suitable targets by policeman Walter Lewis (Bob Hoskins, THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY), who has become frustrated at the state of affairs. Director Nick Love (THE BUSINESS) reunites with regular collaborator Danny Dyer to create this tale of urban frustration. Love’s central themes of manliness, rage and camaraderie are again explored here. Whereas previously Love focussed on football hooligans and members of organised crime, this time he attempts to gain greater empathy for his characters by making them the victims of crime. OUTLAW is a violent and brutal film that contains a message about the nature of vigilantism.

DVD Description
There will be no excuses. The guilty will be punished. No one is above Outlaw. A group of people who feel betrayed by their government and let down by their police force form a modern-day posse in order to right what they see as the wrongs of society.

Customer Reviews

A Spirit-Crushing Experience
I know this film was on a low budget, but he didn't have to give the local drunk the camera. The convulsive camera work put me into a state of nausea and headache (no, seriously). The plot was awful, the colour dreadful, and Hoskins should know better. Bean becomes a murdering sadist, and the rest get blown away by an entire corrupt police force. By the end I was losing the will to live, and rushed off to get my copy of The Evil That Men Do, to reassure myself that, occasionally, bad people get their just desserts. Only Transporter II was this terrible. Films don't go straight to DVD for no reason.

Genuinely horrified
My first thoughts watching this film was 'hasn't the Daily Mail readership got a lot more rugged these days?' A disgruntled ex-serviceman played by Sean Bean has obviously been reading a copy on the plane home from Iraq - so creating the premise for one of the most genuinely shocking films I have seen in my life.

Outlaw is near the knuckle stuff. The film makes genuine comment about the prevalence of British yob culture, the moral ambivalence of the British tabloid press and, obliquely the pervasion of CCTV into our daily lives but weakens said 'message' by casting this sorry tale over the glamorous world of organised crime and police corruption.

From a cinematic point of view the plot consistently strays through the realms of fantasy and into the territory of the patently ridiculous and is further compounded by the nauseating effects of the constantly moving camera. The violence is too concentrated and glamorised to be truly shocking the characters are thin and morally ungrounded. The movie comes across as Lock Stock meets Taxi driver with neither the formers wit and charm nor the latter's strong lead and skillful delivery.

Horrific screenplay aside perhaps the most terrifying aspect of this movie are the social ramifications. By three quarter's distance this movie has clearly turned out to be just the sort of film that is oft aimed at the same 'thugs' that it sets out to daemonise. Could it be that the terrified middle classes are really clamoring to leap from their horrified pedestal and join the 'hoodies' that they so despise down in the gutter? Either this is one of the most brilliant pieces of subversive script writing in history or a Daily Mail reader's bit of rough and a true lowering of the ethical common denominator. My leaning is towards the latter and a quick watch of the DVD extras seems to confirm it.

A great British movie
I can't understand why this film has been given such negative reviews. Its a great British movie. There's no point in me harping on about the story so I'll keep it simple. The cast were brilliant, the story was great and the message simple.

If I was to complain about one thing it would be the camera shaking about. I understand why they use such an effect, but its a bit too much in places.

Other than that its a great film that final moves away from the ganster Brit flick and shoves Mr average into the spot light. Well worth the price it's going for on Amazon and I'd highly recommend it to all.