BROTHERS' DAY is an indie crime flick shot in and around Manchester and its environs. It reminded me a lot of KIDULTHOOD, which is an obvious inspiration here, but it fails due to being poorly written and shot. A couple of brothers get involved with the murky world of organised crime and must fight just to stay alive. There's no real attempt at characterisation or plotting here, just way too much stylisation and all too familiar twists and plot developments. It's rather tedious.

The plot is that mobster Ryan has taken over some small time crime scene in Manchester from his dead brother but wants to keep his younger 'bro' out of the scene. This is Chris and he is bunking off school after having to live in a care home. He just wants to spend all his time on the wrong side of the tracks.Then the latest job that Ryan and co are 'working' on goes a bit pear shaped and all of a sudden all bets are off and Chris is left in the middle having to decide for himself what to do in a dangerous world.Now this is a good effort, some of the acting is very good, like Lewis Fletcher as Ryan, but some is a bit sad too and it is obvious. The plot is also a bit of a stretch in the believability stakes. The fight scenes are amongst the worst I have ever seen too. There are some very concerning sound issues with very quiet to way too loud. Also they seem to have got their police uniforms from some Fancy Dress shop that had a one size fits all policy. Now I am doing this as a 'warts n all' review as they should be– so to be fair some of the split screen depictions – ala 'Bullitt' – are done really well, the music is actually very accomplished and they have been ambitious with a miniscule budget so there are things I can forgive. On Amazon this is listed as 'Brothers' so not sure if this is a repackage or re release? All in all a lot to frown at and a fair amount to actually applaud – albeit at varying volumes, hence my rating.