Film Review - The Violators (2015)

Shelly (Lauren McQueen), the middle child and her 2 brothers (Derek Barr, Callum King Chadwick) live together on the outskirts of Liverpool. At the time of her 15th birthday she gets involved with loan shark Mikey (Stephen Lord) a relationship that will affect her and those around her, including new found friend Rachel (Brogan Ellis).

Now, the one thing you may need to know about me when I review on this site, I am a massive supporter of British films. The films I get most excited about are made in Britain and I feel British directors are full of immense talent. The likes of Ben Wheatley, Shane Meadows, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, Andrea Arnold are really making waves in the filmmaking industry and every film from them is an event. But I’m also a fan of the small, sometimes micro budget films, some that are made by first time writer/directors and there is no better feeling for me than to discover films from new talent that then go on to have great success. I don’t think this is one of those films but it’s certainly a valiant effort.

Spearheaded by very good, naturalistic performances by everyone, especially considering a few of them were acting debuts. The more established actors of course put in good ones as well, the best definitely coming from Stephen Lord (Eastenders, Shameless). The character is a reprehensible person, a guy to really make your skin crawl, which he plays to perfection.

The main problem I had with it is that it is very predictable, about halfway in I pretty much knew what was going to happen and when the twists started to come I pretty much guessed them all. It was realistic, so far as the kitchen sink drama elements, but the rest of it was full of inconsistencies. I won’t get into any spoilers but people believe people even though they’ve manipulated them in the past, there are back stories that have no real resolution and the ending is confusing.

Altogether, a well done drama with some great performances, I just think the script need a lot more work. A good first effort from writer/director Helen Walsh.