Biker gang battle - Film - Arts - Evening Standard
       

Biker gang battle

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Half an hour into Jon Ivay's debut feature, you may feel quite sure where to file it, but be patient.

When our three, leather-clad heroes, Grouch (Phil Daniels), Fred (Gary Stretch) and Tyg (Geoff Bell), arrive in Wales to pick up a shipment of grass from a German hippie we're in for a pleasant surprise.

While a battle between two biker gangs ferments, the friends get wasted and the film itself gains a new energy.

Ex-boxer Stretch underacts like crazy, but somehow this gels perfectly with Bell's nervy intensity; the scene where they tease a bewildered local shopkeeper is both hilarious and unsettling. Ditto the trio's trip to a pub.

We're used to watching pretty youngsters lose the plot, but the chemistry between these grimy, middle-aged stoners creates a uniquely unravelling effect.

Freebird
Cert: 15

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