"Bull" Review - From the Vaults

 "Bull"

Bull (Neil Maskell) returns to town, searching for a man named Norm (David Hayman). He's got an axe to grind, and as he makes his way up the chain of Norm's associates, flashbacks reveal why he is after him; and we the audience get the sense that there is something very, very wrong here...

I don't want to give away too much, because I adore this movie and I have a feeling that it will make not just "The Sweeties" but my personal Top 5 of the year.

The opening credits are simply 3 men walking away from a freshly turned-over and buried... something, on the moors. And when the last one disappears over the hill, the credits stop and the film starts. Genuinely a brilliant way to start, especially with what's coming.

Maskell is genuinely unsettling, breathing life into the "Cockney Hard Man" character with a mixture of genuine pathos and warmth in his flashbacks, and a startlingly bleak and unsettling depiction of violence which really translates to the whole movie. Gangsters aren't men in suits giving wordy Guy Ritchie speeches: they wear high-vis jackets, take their kids to school and are old, out of shape, unsettling and unpleasant people. As to be expected from the director and writer of "London to Brighton" (that's also excellent by the way): this is a gritty, gnarly, unpleasant film with a good eye for detail and the bottom rungs of society. 

Much like "Green Room" and "Dead Man's Shoes", the violence here just happens, it's there and it's stark and the most horrifying parts are done off screen and characterised and contextualised through this oppressive atmosphere of pure fucking evil in the film. Evil is banal, petty, and gruellingly unpleasant.

This movie is a white-knuckle grimace through the heart of darkness, unpleasantness and the best of British crime cinema. Maskell is incredible and David Hayman turns in a blood-curdling quiet and unsettling performance as Norm. 

The twist is brilliant, in my opinion, but will turn off some; the violence and general grimness will certainly be a turn-off to many, but this is a bold and refreshing take on violence and the revenge genre.

The closest comparisons (and unavoidable) are "Dead Man's Shoes", "Kill List" and "Green Room"; as well as one other film I won't say for fear of spoilers.

Put it this way: I understand why the "The Suicide Squad" was a 15. It's all down to tone.

"Bull" is awesome and I want more people to see it.