There's a minefield of British gangster flicks out there, riding the colourful wake of Guy Ritchie's output, and similar fare. Some are solid, and some blow up in your face with mediocrity when you come across them. Dead Fish falls somewhat in between those two reactions. On the one hand, it's slick, visually adept, well casted and for the most part acted and knows how to set up a stylized scene. On the other hand, parts of it are silly, incongruent to the piece as a whole and kind of.. crappy. It's both a good bad movie and a bad good movie, and I know that doesn't give much of a concise picture or really tell you whether to watch it or not, but too bad, that was my conflicted reaction. Gary Oldman, in one of his last loopy performances before he reigned it in, plays Lynch, a lively assassin with an unstable personality. He jumps from contract to contract, until a beautiful girl (Elena Anaya) catches his eye, and he's struck with alarming and slightly creepy lovesickness for her. She's got an American boyfriend (Andrew Lee Potts, who almost brings the film toppling down with his shoddy acting) who is on the run from violent loan shark Danny Devine (Robert Carlyle, frothing at the mouth like a pissy little windup toy). Lynch collides with them all including Pott's stoner buddy (Jimi Mistry always looks like he needs to pee really bad and he's waiting for them to say "cut"). It's not super clear what Oldman's character objective is besides going off on a freaky bi-polar tangent as he pursues his perceived dream girl and seems ready to forsake the high paying hit-man job he seems so comfortable in. Nevertheless it's fun to see him run around shooting people and being a mental head, and no one can do that like our Gary. The plot thickens, or rather becomes unintelligible, when two secret spy operatives are brought in by some agency to.. do...man I don't even know. Billy Zane is a weird loony toons caricature as Virgil, a stuffy old spook with a plummy upper crust accent and some... wardrobe issues. He's paired with Eastern European psycho Dragan (the always excellent Karel Roden) and the two literally spend their portion of the film bickering, cat fighting and squabbling, having actually no real interaction or function with the plot. Oh well, they're amusing if nothing else. There's also a brief appearance from Terence Stamp, who classes up the affair as Samuel Fish, a shady businessman with a vaguely coherent part to play in the madness. It's all very strange and seems assured that it knows what it's doing and where it's going, even if at times the audience has not a clue. On the plus side, this is the only film I can think of where you can behold Gary Oldman break out into a musical number whilst tied down by a 250 pound S&M hooker. Yikes. Keep your ears peeled for a sonic little score from Groove Armada as well.

Crime comedy. Seems like a follow up to (Snatch – 2000). Actually, since that particular movie, the whole decade became so influenced with its style. Every year we have one wacky movie a la snatch where the crime, the black comedy, the video clip style, the time games and the twists all are tied up together : (Crime Spree – 2003), (Dead Fish – 2004), (Revolver – 2005), (Smokin' Aces – 2006), and (RocknRolla – 2008).I believe the hectic life, the violent world that we live (and one movie I hate named Pulp Fiction) led to these movies. Or maybe this is the best way to spoof all of that, and exploit it commercially. Anyway it's a popcorn movie, full of harshness and twisted sense of humor, where the liquidation is always bloody, the gangsters are multinational, and the good guys are the less evil.This one was so good in the start, because after that it kind of lost its way a bit. For instance the storyline of the Russian killer seemed wholly extra. The movie just didn't utilize that to produce comedy or action, therefore it was blocking the main, real hot, storyline of the hit-man and the kid. Moreover, the twist at the end was lame and so unbelievable. They didn't even have the time to explain it; so it looked stupid too!On the other hand, I loved the sequence of "drive this car to crash the wall in front of you, unless you'll get a bullet between your eyes" as an outrageous escaping scene. Or the one in which (Oldman) was offering the flower to the girl. And to top it all the whole first sequence in the train station where 2 lovers stand on the edge of breaking up, one guy falls in love at first sight, one girl goes in different direction away from 2 guys love her desperately; that was undoubtedly the most solid, romantic and effective sequence in here. Still the best about this movie is its drama. Yes, the story at its core is nothing but a boy who discovers that he loves his girl more than himself, earning her in the hard way through a journey in totally insane world that takes place in just one day. The character of the hit-man as helpless lover was nice "opponent" also. Generally it can be one of the weirdest romantic comedies ever!The cast did it pretty good. (Gary Oldman) was a memorable hit-man. Surprisingly (Andrew Lee Potts) was equal actor in front of him. However I was more happy to see every second of (Elena Anaya). She was great as a talent and beauty, looking like Julia Ormond's younger sister. Well, sweeter sister. But I pitied the efforts of (Billy Zane) since his role was wasted.Despite its shortcomings it keeps itself together as a watchable love story. Because when it comes to this matter, it's the smartest point at all. This is what gives this "snatch" flick something to be remembered with. Love stories live longer than crime comedies. At any rate, it's one of the movies that can give a colorful feeling for days after watching.

I must admit I quite enjoyed this film. I think it works best as an over-the-top parody of such movies as "Lock, stock..." or "Snatch". The plot makes no sense, rhyme or reason. If you're after a cohesive plot, you'd better look elsewhere. The characters are at times funny and at the same time verging on annoying (think the character played by Brad Pitt in "Snatch", only stretched to the entire cast and entire duration of the film). Absolutely no way for suspension of disbelief here. So, again, if getting immersed in an action film is your thing, look elsewhere. All in all: noisy, clumsy, over-the-top, silly, but for some unknown reason the overall experience for me was actually not so terrible.

Sometimes it's a miracle how they can transform a potential good movie in a complete piece of crap. Dead Fish has everything in it to become a nice gangster-comedy, but fails miserably. You can't blame the casting, though. There are some excellent casted actors in roles that suit them fine. Robert Carlyle is superbly casted as greedy loan shark. Gary Oldman plays the role of messed up hit-man with verve. Terence Stamp has that eerie aura that makes his presence worth gold.But still, despite of all those good actors casted in suitable roles, the movie just doesn't surpass any mediocrity. It feels as if its writers just grabbed a couple of elements from other gangster flicks and threw it in an inspiration-less mixer. It doesn't help that some of the plot lines are just too unfunny for words. I was thoroughly annoyed by the conversations between Drakan and his English host. It just felt as an endless repeating of the same joke that wasn't funny the first time you heard it.Dead Fish has its moments, but lacks too much.