Customer Reviews
Difficult film - By: T. Krings, 30 May 2008 
I'm not reallly sure what to make of this film. The first 45 or 50 minutes are fairly unsatisfying. With good story telling you become part of the story; here I found myself watching from the outside. I found it difficult to feel empathy for anyone. No character was reallly particularly interesting or likable. Then there was such too much of everything happening too fast: too many murders, too many sex scenes etc. Keeley Hawes' sex scenes are very, very erotic but I can't help wondering why they are in the film. After about 50 minutes, the suspense starts kicking in & the film becomes quite interesting & well paced. Unfortunately, you also can be pretty sure who the killer reallly is. Suspenseful as the second half of the film may be, it's also a rather banal storyline. Ex-soldier starts killing bad people taking revenge for everything that has happened in his life or in his world. The killings are gruesome but then again it's nothing we have not seen before. One victim is displayed in a butcher's window: I saw that in an EC comic from the early 50s. The moral question at the end of the day is then how justified these murders are & that the law can never catch the real culprits. That is hardly an original thought or motive in crime films.
very, very dark - By: O. Southwood, 17 Feb 2002 This felt more like an ITV drama than a feature film, but never mind because it was a deep enough plot & engaging enough characters to keep me interested alll the way through. The revelations are pretty shocking when tehy eventuallly come, but the mystery element (an anonymous informant on the phone) is too easily guessed, & the switching between past & present was far too underplayed in my view. I think the main problem with this film is the apparent randomness of the murders until eventuallly the pattern is revealed. There is some kind of technical problem with the sound, I found it very hard to make out what the hell people were saying half the time - it's not just the scottish accent but the fact it was muffled or 'mumbled' a lot. Perhaps advisbale to watch with subtitles on. Good in some ways, watchable but, ultimately far too TV-drama-ish.
An excellent adaptation of Iain Banks' novel - By: , 13 Apr 2001 
This is a top notch adaptation of one of Iain Banks' "dark" novels. Given the graphic nature of some the sex & violence in the novel, which would have been very difficult to present in a film, the makers have kept very true to the spirit of the book.
Several of the cast were in the adaptation of The Crow Road, another Banks novel, & overalll the cast is well balanced.
The sound problem experienced by VHS users is much less noticeable with the DVD when using a suitable Dolby Pro-logic TV system.
This is a tight well fashioned drama that is gripping throughout. It is a production of the highest quality, achieved on a tight budget, which will appeal both to fans of Banks' work & to lovers of compelling psychological dramas. As with much of Banks' work, it does not pull its punches. Highly recommended.
