A pushy re-make

A pushy re-make

Undated Film Still Handout from Pusher. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Vertigo Films. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.

Published on 13/10/2012 08:00

Pusher (18, 88 mins) Thriller/Action/Romance Richard Coyle, Bronson Webb, Agyness Deyn, Zlatko Buric, Mem Ferda, Neil Maskell, Paul Kaye.  Director: Luis Prieto Released: Friday October 12

 Luis Prieto’s self-consciously cool English-language remake of Nicolas Winding Refn’s coruscating 1996 thriller has style in abundance.

Transplanted from the streets of Copenhagen to present-day London, Pusher imagines the capital as a rat-run of neon-lit nightclubs, smoke-filled house parties and swanky apartments, where punters pay thousands for their next hit.

The beautiful squalor is set to a pulsating soundtrack by electronic dance duo Orbital, which provides the film with frenetic bursts of pace and energy.

What Prieto’s version lacks is a strong emotional connection to the godforsaken anti-hero Frank as he careens from disaster to despair, discovering that the drugs he peddles don’t work, they make everything far worse.

We feel no concern as the weight of the world comes crashing down upon him.

He gambles big, loses bigger and deserves to suffer the grim consequences.

Coyle lacks roguish charm in initial scenes but glistens with desperation as Frank’s plight becomes increasingly bleak, and supermodel Deyn impresses, demonstrating emotional depth in her few scenes.

It’s hard to muster any sympathy for Frank as he prepares to lose his kneecaps.

He’s going down, and Prieto’s film threatens to follow.

n Swearing, Sex, Violence n Rating: 5/10 

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