The Dominator reviews

Distributed by
United International Pictures

Viewed at Manchester Showcase Cinemas.
Telephone 0161 220 8765 for programme information

• Cert: 18
• Running time: 105 minutes
• Year: 1997
• Released: 26th September 1997
• Widescreen Ratio : 1.85:1
• Rating: 8/10

Director:

Antonia Bird (Priest, Safe)

Andy Roberts, Paul Conboy and Adrian Corker

Cast :

Ray : Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty, Carla's Song, Go Now, Priest)
Dave: Ray Winstone (Nil By Mouth, Ladybird Ladybird, Quadrophenia, Scum)
Stevie : Steven Waddington (The One That Got Away (TV), Carrington)
Connie : Lena Headey (Band of Gold (TV), The Jungle Book, Remains of the Day)
Julian : Philip Davis (Quadrophenia, The Wall, Secrets and Lies)
Chris : Andrew Tiernan (Cracker: To Say I Love You (TV), Safe)
Sonny : Peter Vaughn (The Crucible, Remains of the Day, Straw Dogs)
Jason : Damon Albarn
Sarah : Christine Tremarco
Alice : Sue Johnstone (Brookside (TV), Brassed Off, Crime Traveller (TV))

F ace is the name given to the Faces attempting to pull off a dangerous heist. Each of the five 'faces' go into the heist for their own reasons, but when they come out with much less money than anticipated, one of the gang turns murderous in a bid to take the entire loot. With the police on their trail, there's a race against time and the law, to find out which one is the rat in the house and then to recover the missing money.

The five 'faces' in this film are Ray (Robert Carlyle), a cocksure man who knows what he wants, and how to get it; Dave (Ray Winstone), an older and heavier-built man with a daughter opting to date the boyfriend of most parents' nightmares; Julian (Philip Davis), one-part family man, one-part psychopath, who intends moving upmarket very soon; Stevie (Steven Waddington), who first met Ray in prison and was taken under his wing. He idolises Ray and will do anything for him; and Jason (Damon Albarn), a young man in his first heist, trying to follow in his uncle Sonny's footsteps.

The main star of the film, Robert Carlylse, is an actor who can always be relied upon to turn his hand to any form of character, be it drama, as in this and the BBC's Screen Two film Go Now in which he played a footballer who contracts multiple sclerosis, and comedy as recently seen in The Full Monty. In this film he certainly doesn't fail to disappoint.

Most of the rest of the cast is made up of those British actors that you know who they are, but can't always put a name to the face. Each of them get fully into the part to create a believable and engaging storyline. As seen in the cast list above, some of the actors have crossed paths before, and some with the director.

Lena Headey plays Connie, Ray's girlfriend, who wants to stay with him, but doesn't know how much longer she can put up with his lifestyle. She used to go on protest marches with him, but Ray's moved on from that, so she continues to attend the latest one, a Kurdish demonstration, with Ray's mother, Alice, played by Sue Johnstone, who will be most well-known to us as Sheila Grant in Channel 4's Brookside.

The cast is fleshed out with Andrew Tiernan, who I remember from the first series of Cracker, as the boyfriend of Dave's daughter, Sarah (played by Christine Tremarco), movie stalwart Peter Vaughn as Sonny, who seems to have been in films since the year dot, and making his movie debut as Sonny's nephew Jason, is Damon Albarn, lead singer of pop-group Blur, who turns in a fairly decent performance as the new recruit for a gang heist, but the part he's been given is too limited to tell whether or not he has a career in film.

Financed by the BBC, this is a fine crime thriller worthy of your attention, and another reason for you to support the British film industry, other than the fact that it's the second superb Robert Carlyle starrer released within a month. And don't think that just because the film is about five men pulling off a heist which goes wrong, that it's just a British version of Reservoir Dogs. This film has a style and a cast all of its own, and comes well-recommended.

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.