If you’re looking for a standard-issue serial killer movie, look no further than Blitz. If the face of Mr. Statham on the poster didn’t tell you what to expect, I don’t know what will. Let me, just in case, run down the story of this movie. So, we have one tough detective, struggling with alcoholism while trying to catch a vicious serial killer. Does this sound familiar? Based on a novel of the same name, this is as vanilla as it gets. Still, there are some nice touches that make the story stand out a bit.
Blitz looks nice and shiny, with that sleek cinematography that we all love. Well, at least I hope we all love it. The production values are also quite good. The story, however, is a different story. I mean, right off the bat we’ve got quite an unrealistic scene of Brant beating up a gang. The whole thing reminded me of the eighties classic Cobra, starring Sylvester Stallone. And while we’re mentioning other movies, we should also add Christopher Lambert’s Resurrection.
Apart from Jason Statham doing what he does best, the rest of the cast did a great job. I mean, not that I was expecting anything less from this band of British veteran soldiers. Aidan Gillen as Weiss was especially good, showing us the full range of his acting skills. You might remember him as Petyr Baelish from the tv show Game of Thrones.
A serial killer is on the loose in the city of London. He’s brazen, vicious, and remorseless killing cops in broad daylight. He even taunts the police by calling them and saying how many more lives he will claim. At the same time, DS Tom Brant is working hard on the case. However, he’s no closer to catching the now-infamous Blitz killer. The game of cat and mouse is on.
Directionless and ultimately bland, Blitz is one of those filler movies you resort to when you have nothing else to do. I haven’t read the novel but I doubt it was this disjointed. We follow a couple of subplots that go nowhere and character development is all too predictable and generic. However, the short running time, gritty atmosphere and Gillen’s performance make this movie worth checking out. Especially if you’re a fan of either Police Movies or Serial Killer Movies.
Director: Elliott Lester
Writers: Nathan Parker, Ken Bruen
Cast: Jason Statham, Aidan Gillen, Paddy Considine, Zawe Ashton, David Morrissey, Luke Evans
Fun Facts: Blitz was the first film produced by Lionsgate UK
Rating:
IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1297919/
