One of the complaints about La La Land was that many of the songs in the musical were unmemorable, but there was that cover version of Take on Me!London Road about the 2006 murders of 5 prostitutes in Ipswich was turned into an experimental stage musical by the National Theatre.The cast of actors repeat words spoken by the residents of Ipswich given to the film's writer, Alecky Blythe after the murderer was captured. The film might had been better if it stopped there. However it is a musical and people start to sing but the songs are tuneless dirge.I lost all interest in the film and I felt bad for the victim's families.

This is a musical that presents what happened in the London Road community in Ipswich, after five prostitutes were murdered in that community within only ten days. "London Road" tells the paranoia, shock and disbelief that the residents face, after the discovery of the murders. Then, there's a hunt for the killer, the subsequent trial and then, the community tries to rebuild itself. I didn't know it's a musical, so I was rather surprised to see people singing and moving in choreographed movements!I particularly like the fact that the community rebuilds itself from the trauma, making themselves more united and resilient than before. There is a positive message out of the grim circumstances, and this film successfully captures this hopeful atmosphere in the rebuilding stage.

Review: This movie would have been 100 times better if it wasn't for the annoying singing. This storyline really needs to be told properly because it shows how a community can pull together after such an awful ordeal. Anyway, the film/musical is based on London Road in Ipswich were prostitutes are hanging around on the streets and spoiling the moral in the community. In 2006 the bodies of five of the prostitutes were found in the area which disrupted all of the London Road community and everyone was paranoid about who could be the serial killer. With the media and police officers camping out on the Street, the community struggled to get on with there day to day life's and when they finally find the culprit, everyone was on tender hooks to wait for the verdict. The community then come together to make there Road a nice place to live, by planting pretty flowers and fixing up there gardens. They also come together in the village hall to discuss community matters and have fun days like bingo with fish and chips. When Steve Wright, the accused, is finally sentenced to life, everyone is finally able to put the whole matter behind them but some of them were still scarred by the whole ordeal. I personally was interested in this movie because I know people who live near that area but I was really disappointed with the outcome. I know the play is very successful but from a film prospective, they really needed to cut the singing out. I liked the fact that they used the true words of people that they interviewed through that period and they even got the pronunciation correct, which I heard after listening to the interviews at the end of the movie but I don't understand why they had to sing the words. It made the situation seem more like a comedy than an intense time for the community who had a serial killer on the loose. I also didn't understand why they only put Tom Hardy in two scenes which were completely irrelevant to the whole film. Anyway, it's an uplifting movie which proves that a community pulling together can really change people's life's but the singing really got on my nerves. Average!Round-Up: Although this film is about a serial killer, you never see any footage of Steve Wright or get an explanation on why he committed the murders, which is a shame. The only person that I really recognised in the whole film was, of course, Tom Hardy, who was only in a couple of scenes and Olivia Colman, 41, who became a household name, here in the UK, after the popular Broadchurch series. She has starred in a few movies like Confetti, Hot Fuzz, I Could Never Be Your Woman with Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd, Grow Your Own, Tyrannosaur, the Iron Lady, Hyde Park on Hudson with Bill Murray, I Give It A Year, Cuban Fury and Locke with Tom Hardy but she's mostly known for her appearances any many TV series. She has a movie called the Lobster coming out soon with Colin Farrell and she has won 3 BAFTA's out of her 5 nominations so she must be happy with her career so far. This film was directed by Rufus Norris who also brought you the great Broken with Tim Roth. I personally think that he was trying to keep as close as possible to the National Theatre hit which has sold out two times running but for entertainment on the big screen, I really just wanted to see the core of the movie without the terrible singing with repetitive lines. Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $216,000I recommend this movie to people who are into their adventure/musical/adventure about a community in Ipswich who bring there road back to a livable standard after 5 prostitutes turn up dead in the area. 3/10

Another reviewer referred to this as "astonishing." I suppose that can be taken several ways.When I decided to watch this film I missed "musical" in the description and mistakenly assumed it was a murder docu-drama, rather than a crime docu-songfest.I guess it could be described as innovative. It is allegedly based on a real event, the real words of those in the community, the reactions/implications of & for those in the locale affected by the murders and the subsequent investigations. As we are told repeatedly, people became suspicious of one another.The question remains, is all of this something to sing about. The medium is the message or at least it influences how one feels about it all. For me it just seemed tedious and rather bizarre.