The Criminal
The Criminal
| 01 October 1999 (USA)
The Criminal Trailers

Jasper Rawlins, a none-too-successful musician, finds himself chatting with a beautiful woman at his neighborhood bar. She goes home with him, direct and frank in answer to his nervousness. During the night, someone breaks into his flat and cuts her throat. He runs into the arms of the police, who dismiss his story, but release him while they search for the weapon. He investigates the crime, and over the next few days, meets a knowing pornographer, hit men, and other schemers. As dead bodies pile up wherever he goes, the police are soon looking for him with guns drawn. As he discovers secrets about a shadowy corporation, the police close in. Can he find someone to trust?

Reviews
mark webb

This film lacked the basics; tension, atmosphere and a half decent script. It didnt work. It didnt know what it was. It ended up being Farce. Keystone cops, 'U' certificate violence, dodgy flashbacks, Bethnal Green Town-hall;(When do you ever get an oak panelled cop shop?) I can only think that the American actress playing the street-wise urchin, (taking the film to an even more embarassing depth), was only there because a relation of hers put money into the project! Whats sad is its got such a good cast. Oh what could have been done with them and the budget! It makes 'Honest' look like a masterpiece. They'd probabley make a good double-bill!!

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George Parker

"The Criminal" is a noirish Brit crime flick which tells of a man (Mackintosh) who is in the wrong place at the wrong time and finds himself as a murder suspect on the run from the police and a bunch of super secret underground heavies. A busy flick with little to offer save a bunch of running around, "The Criminal" suffers from low budgetness, a thin plot, lots of filler, and an awful ending. An okay time waster for the couch potato who can't find anything better. (+D)

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Koolandthegang

I paid to see this film and I stayed until the end...in retrospect the two largest mistakes of the day. A roller coaster ride between wishing it would end and wishing I had something better to do at two-thirty in the morning. An absolutely terrible British film...nearly as bad as Rancid Aluminium.

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The Movie Goblin

Okay, it may not have the budget of Enemy of the State, but Julian Simpson's first film was undeniably enjoyable nonetheless. The Criminal, withstanding a few minor glitches, is one of the most likeable British films I've seen in ages. I must admit that I am slightly biased as I love conspiracy films but this had all the right ingredients: the innocent everyman hero on the run, spies, femme fatales, plot twists etc. It occasionally felt as if some scenes could've been cut to quicken the pace, but as it is it's still very entertaining.Bernard Hill, the Captain from Titanic, was brilliant as the foul-mouthed bad-tempered policeman, and Steven Mackintosh was believable as the everyman hero, without resulting to cliche's. The rest of the cast was made up with faces from TV, but this didn't matter as they were all great.

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