The brothers Chris and Joe are policemen working together. A family tradition. Their old Dad was also a detective, now suffering from the first signs of Alzheimer's decease. They get frustrated when they can't get a former child abuser convicted for murdering a 12 year old girl, even if they find her necklace and some pictures of her in his apartment. They start off with untraditional methods to get him to confess. This is the start of this British crime thriller, which follows in the great tradition of this kind from the isles. The start is bleak, but takes on a strong turn, which grabs your interest intensively.A strong cast, with Paul Bettany and Stephen Graham leading on, with great Brian Cox as the father, and Mark Strong as a colleague, and Ben Crompton as the pedophile. Strong performances all over, also from the kids. Bettany is great when he gets this haunted look.The film is suspenseful and atmospheric, though filmed in bleach colors, making in just the more real looking. Recommended!

Rarely does a movie come along that slips under the radar of the movie goers of the world that is as poignant as Blood. I know people have a habit of watching Blockbusters and judging all movies based on the salary of the actors and the budget of the film. Blood is proof, yet again, that a movie doesn't have to be high budget to be beyond great. I very rarely rate movies as most people don't really pay much attention to the actual review that is associated with the rating. The entire cast and crew of this movie were exemplary and deserve the accolades that go along with it. I have a new benchmark to base all crime dramas off of now thanks to this great and powerful movie.

The movie is pegged as a thriller but I prefer calling it a psychological drama with thriller features. As the storyline would have you think, the premise lends itself to a variety of ways it could have gone, however the best one was the psychological thriller and that is what most viewers would like hope to see when selecting this movie.I recognize the film did not go over so well with critics and they are entitled to their say; well they're paid for it anyway. Sadly, the audience also did not trip to the overall production and I, well I'm usually easy going, am on the fence with that one. Cops, brothers to boot, investigating a crime they themselves have committed entails possible clichés we are likely not thrilled to watch, but director Nick Murphy (and Bill Gallagher the writer) have managed to avoid those to my satisfaction. I'm a fan of Mark Strong and though he delivered a solid performance, his character did not really have a major part, not as much as I was hoping for. Brian Cox, who played the retired cop and father to the brothers, was excellent in his role, as anyone familiar with him would expect.The movie starts off with a crime scene and introduces us to Joe and Chrissie Fairburn, played respectively by Paul Bettany and Stephen Graham, the brothers. We get a glimpse of the intense personality of Bettany's character at that moment. The movie will then progressively and methodically immerse us in Joe Faiburn's hell, the demons he struggles with and despite that he is what one could call a good guy, the journey into his unravelling. On that basis, I would have felt stronger about endorsing the movie, but alas, I cannot; not that Bettany does not perform his little heart out, and he is an actor who can deliver such, but I know more viewers may well be disappointed with the direction the story goes and ends, so I won't.I chose to watch this movie because I was curious to see what sort of actor Stephen Graham was; I knew him solely from his role as Al Capone in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. I was impressed by his performances in the series and now that I've seen him in a motion picture, I will consider any future film in which he'll be playing more than a third casted role.

Great cast, promising story - but ultimately disappointing.It did not surprise me to learn that this film was based on a TV series. Over much of the running time I found myself distracted by just how busy the story was. It was one plot point after another, after another, with no space in-between to let the characters (or audience) absorb each of the many developments before proceeding - or to establish a strong sense of mood or location. It seemed as though the makers had condensed into a feature film length a story that was intended to be told over a much longer duration - as though an emotionally balanced story had been harshly edited, leaving just a collection of 'flashpoints.' With a cast and story this good, Blood could have achieved something as atmospheric and dramatic as Mystic River. Unfortunately though, it felt like one of those British TV crime dramas in which they have to introduce characters, portray a crime, investigate the crime (uncovering a series of disturbing family secrets and dispensing with a couple of red herrings in the process) and arrive at a harrowing (but ultimately just) conclusion, all within the span of a single episode.An enjoyable, but not especially memorable, film.