Millions

A modern day magical fairytale from the director of diversity: Danny Boyle. He who has brought us such iconic films as Trainspotting and 28 Days Later brings to the screen a film about two young brothers dealing with the death of their mother and the new found wealth of a large holdall of cash…

Set in a new housing development somewhere in the north of England, Damian and Anthony are two normal lads who are coming to terms with their new life, a new house and new adventures when one day Damian comes across a bag of cash and shares this with his brother. The two are unaware that the money has been dumped by the mob waiting to pick it up at a safer time.

The Cunningham boys begin their story as one wants to spend and the other wants to help the needy (as their father carries on completely oblivious). The backdrop to the main story has the UK going through the introduction of the Euro, so the clock is ticking for them being able to spend the money and foiling the rightful owner of the cash.

Quite a departure for Boyle, this very British film is more of a step back for the director as he( I am sure) wants to get involved with smaller intimate projects as well as the big budget backed studio films. The two young actors playing the Cunningham brother are very good and TV favourite James Nesbitt plays the busy bumbling father. A great ensemble sees familiar faces from TV and film used to great comic effect with the boys always at the centre of things.

But it is the story and underlying message about greed that rises to the top for me. Very topical and rightfully moralistic, this film should hit screens just at the right time.

As with any Danny Boyle film the look and feel is very stylistic and some great shots have not been compromised by a relatively small budget. A good use of soundtrack has some great pounding moments of action one minute, to very emotional touching scenes the next. This is definitely a crowd pleaser as you are drawn into their world right from the start and this story has many highs and many lows you can’t help getting involved.

I thought the film had a wonderful opening twenty minutes with some really inventive camera work and SFX that just sucker punches you from when the curtains go back and the final act was again very well done but it did tend to drag in the middle with very little to do, but when called upon it did kick into gear. Like so many films these days it is very hard to maintain the opening expectations but with that in mind it is so much better than most things made and financed in the UK!

High points would have to be the two main leads that are stars in the making, they gel this film together and make you care. Low point would have to be the second act that lacks the impact of the start and finish. One to watch though as it has a Christmas release this year, and with the right campaign it could be on everyone’s alternative wish list when the big guns have fired this festive season.

3/5