??/??/?? - Las Vegas comes to Essex

"IT makes Southend look like Las Vegas!" exclaimed Bernard O'Mahoney, author of Essex Boys, after seeing the movie of the same name last week.

Whether this is a good thing is open to interpretation, but if the ex-bouncer expected the new Brit gangster flick to follow a similar plotline to his Rettendon Range Rover murders expose then he would have been sorely disappointed.

Although at one point in the movie three hoodlums are actually blown away in the aforementioned vehicle, this is where any links to the real-life gangland executions begin and end.

Unfortunately, had screenwriters Terry Winsor and Jeff Pope chosen to tell the true story behind the Rettendon killings the result would probably have been a lot more interesting than this depressingly brutal account of life within the Essex underworld.

Sure we get the bright lights of Southend seafront, the back streets of Canvey, and even scenes at Lakeside, but does this local travelogue make up for the relentless scenes of wife beating, rape and murder? One thinks not.

This film paints a bleak picture of life in Essex, and does nothing to shatter the unflattering myths which have built up around the county in recent years.

The plot tries to be clever, with various twists and turns, but falls flat on its face through a lack of humour, pace or empathy with the characters, Canvey cabby Billy "Whizz" Reynolds (Charlie Creed-Miles) is roped into driving for psychotic gangster Jason Locke (Sean Bean) after his release from prison.

After witnessing Locke take violent revenge on the poor sap who grassed him up. Billy finds himself a reluctant accomplice in further criminal activities alongside Locke's hoodlum pals.

Seduced by the glitz and glamour of his new lifestyle, Billy gradually digs himself deeper and deeper into trouble, and as Jason tries to seize control of the local drugs and bouncer scene, he finds himself up to his neck in the proverbial.

Events reach a head when Billy becomes mixed up with Locke's wife Lisa (Alex Kingston) and corrupt businessman John Dyke (Tom Wilkinson), who have an agenda of their own which spells trouble for Jason and his gangster cronies...

Any outsider to Essex who watches this film will be convinced we're all gun-wielding psychopaths, high on coke, ready to blow away our best friend if the stakes are high enough. Unoriginal and unappealing, there is little here which we haven't seen before.

The only redeeming features are excellent performances from Bean, Kingston and Wilkinson, and the almost voyeuristic fascination to be found in seeing places you know on the big screen.

A wasted opportunity which does nothing for the credibility of the British film industry.