Review: Get Lucky (2013)
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From the opening overhead shots of London and the admittedly great opening piece of scoring by Greg Hatwell, this British drama gets your attention. The urban Brit flick may have been done to death but Sacha Bennett’s film is a bit of alright. Parts remind of this year’s Welcome to the Punch, especially the very similar (albeit wonky) climax. Sadly, like that film, it is a bit of a jumble but still entertaining enough to work.
The best way to describe this film is like an acceptably watchable two-part Channel 4 TV drama. The TV film vibe perpetuates the whole film but as gritty British dramas go, Get Lucky maintains your attention. The film aims for a 70s vibe in the vein of The Sweeney days of TV/film. However there is an odd but surprising throwback to 40s gangster flicks too. The plotting is still all over the place with the script providing the grit but structuring the film untidily. Still, it is pacey enough to not dwell in the dumps for too long and livens the plot up with a nice flat fight scene, a good casino raid sequence and the odd enjoyable shootout.
The acting is not especially fantastic but enough to keep things moving and the actors do commit to some seriousness and silliness. The latter holds up less well, although an asthmatic prostitute sequence feels very much the film’s own. The emotional scenes are weaker too but when Luke Treadaway is giving Lucky a boyish charm, with the magic tricks, it gets us by. As does a nice closing twist that goes against type for female characters in films of this type. In fact that final twist livens up a very sudden and up in the air climax. The plot ties together well enough, despite a few scriptural comedic jars and emotionally lacking scenes. There are some healthy thrills here and, if nothing else, a reference to Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables was unexpected in a 2013 British urban drama.
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