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Review

The past few years have seen a surge in British gangster pictures with such titles as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Sexy Beast, but the savage Gangster No. 1 stands apart from the pack through its uncompromising willingness to strip away the irony and posturing in favor of exploring the brutality and ruthlessness of London's organized crime world. With its depiction of explicit violence, the thriller is indeed a rough piece of work -- as befits its unforgettable main character, jointly incarnated in equally spectacular performances by Paul Bettany in 1968 and Malcolm McDowell in the present day. Savage and stylish, slick and sadistic, Gangster No. 1 features McDowell as Gangster, a crime boss forced to reflect on his past when his former gangland mentor Eddie Mays (David Thewlis) is released from prison after 30 years. Flashing back to '68, Bettany portrays Gangster in his youthful heyday, hungry for power and indifferent to the lives he must destroy to obtain it. As Gangster's mania for violence increases, he rises through the ranks of Mays' gang, until Gangster ultimately decides to supplant his old boss by any means necessary. Director McGuigan brings a keen eye for period detail, and a feverish visual sensibility to the material.

 -- Travis Crawford