Review: ‘Down Terrace’ Not Quite A New Gangster Classic, But Still Damn Good

Crime stories have a long and celebrated lineage in film. Like horror, it’s a fun, but often disappointing genre. You have to wade through a lot of shit to get to the gold. But when they’re good, they’re really good. Great modern gangster films – the past decade has seen some bona fide new classics with “The Pusher Trilogy,” “City of God,” “Gomorrah,” “A Prophet” and even the recent “Animal Kingdom” – transcend and twist the genre, revitalizing what was once rote.

The new British crime film, “Down Terrace,” while not quite on the level of the aforementioned films (it might be on B-squad, but like Willem Dafoe in “The Life Aquatic” it’s the B-squad leader, at least), is nonetheless well-made and darkly comic. It’s one of the stronger comedies of the year, in fact, but also puts a fresh spin on the Brit crime movie.

When the excellent trailer hit recently, we noted other strong UK-based crime movies such as “Layer Cake,” “Long Good Friday,” “Get Carter” and “Sexy Beast” as “classic examples” despite the British gangster movie having “become a fairly maligned genre, swamping U.K. multiplex screens and supermarket shelves with abysmal, low-rent, laddy fare.” ‘Terrace,’ a true gem just waiting to be discovered by the right audience (on DVD, most likely, and with some time, it could really find a strong, cult following), is successful not in its defiance of crime movie cliches, but in its embrace of them, like how a filthy shower, once scrubbed clean, can sometimes look brand-spanking new.

Director Ben Wheatley and co-writer/co-star Robin Hill have created a new kind of crime family, splicing together the Sopranos with Mike Leigh-esque kitchen sink melodrama, and then setting them loose in a paranoiac world where everyone is a suspect, and nobody is safe. Somehow the film feels both totally believable, as if it could be happening right now in the real world, but also heightened enough like a TV sitcom. The balance struck between the two is impressive.

When Bill and Karl (real life father and son Robert Hill and Robin) are released from prison in the film’s opening, they celebrate and catch up with friends, but immediately begin the search for the rat. Not helping their paranoia is all the weed smoked between the two. Bill is the head of the family. His wife, played wonderfully by “Spaced” landlord Julia Deakin, seems only on the fringes at first, but is far more involved than she lets on initially (similar to “Animal Kingdom”). Karl is looking to maybe make a change, discovering he’s about to become a father.

Soon enough, the body count begins to rise, and tensions are raised, especially in the final third, as we wonder just what way the son will swing in the conclusion. It’s important to remember that, like “Animal Kingdom” (again), these are people near their end, paranoid, and numbing their brains just to get through these terrible things and realizations (hence all the drug use). They’re all selfish, incredibly narcissistic people.

We can’t stress enough how freaking hilarious this film is. It’s British humor, with a capital “B.” Robert Hill’s portrayal of Bill is one of the best performances of the year. Charismatic and always in the right (at least from his point of view), he is a former hippie who turned to drug dealing because he had a son, and now spends his time high, singing and playing guitar, and bantering with his son (using a real father-son duo was a genius decision; you just can’t manufacture this kind of familial chemistry). Even Bill’s inflection is funny, which makes his dialogue that much better (“Do you have a Web presence?” he asks the family hit man).
And then there’s the ending. Wow. Thankfully Wheatley has the strength to follow through on his convictions here, and push the narrative to a rather extreme and bleak conclusion. Look for subtle character moments that end up telling you a lot: Karl’s girlfriend speaking up at dinner to Bill, for one; the film is littered with these. It rewards the fastidious, attentive moviegoer.

It’s a lot of fun seeing these specific people go through what nearly every crime family has in the movies and TV, from the Corleones to the Sopranos. It mostly accomplishes what it strives for. “Down Terrace” doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s not attempting that, story-wise. So it may have…let’s say, low ambitions (even that feels harsh though), but that’s not a bad thing when in the end, the result is a very good, well-made film. [B+]