| The
single redeeming feature is the impressive cast that directors Colin
Teague and Glenn Dufort have assembled for their cut-price crime caper.
Though
set in London, "Shooters" deserves some credit for assembling
its collection of devious lowlifes from more far-flung parts of
the UK and beyond. Thus we find Adrian Dunbar's smooth Irish kingpin
negotiating a drug deal with Gerard Butler's psychotic Glaswegian
supplier, with a little help from assorted Welsh scumbags (Ioan
Gruffudd, Jason Hughes, Matthew Rhys).
Dunbar,
meanwhile, has his eye on a henchman's wife - curiously played by
Kiwi actress Melanie Lynskey, gamely grappling with an unlikely
Cockney accent.
Caught
up in all of this is recently released ex-con Gilly (Dempsey) and
his unhinged pal J (Howard), who hope to get rich while keeping
one step ahead of the cops (represented here by the demure Emma
Fielding).
You
will not be surprised to learn that it ends in an orgy of bloodshed,
and a betrayal lifted straight from the "Reservoir Dogs"
manual of predictable plot developments.
Even
worse than the lack of originality, though, is the general cheapness
of a film where most of the bullets are heard, not seen, and half
the dialogue is inaudible. These shooters fire blanks - avoid.
"Shooters"
opens in UK cinemas on Friday 25th January 2002.
Reviewed by , 91Èȱ¬ Films
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