Twitter Plot Summary: A group of scammers scam the wrong guy, and are made to pay him £2 million or face a shallow grave.
Five Point Summary:
1. Posh kids scamming the rich. Yawn.
2. Let’s go to Miami. Why not.
3. Now’s exactly the right time to start thinking about making a break for it. Not.
4. Who scams the scammers?
5. Slow motion gunfights are still cool.
Plastic isn’t a good film, and the problems with it are manifold. First and foremost is the tone – it needs to be either a serious crime story with the odd dash of dark comedy, or be an Ocean’s Eleven style caper that’s light in tone. Plastic is both of these yet neither, never sure which one it wants to be and flipping between the two like someone experiencing a massive sugar rush after necking five litres of a popular fizzy drink. The odd moments of humour are genuinely funny – the quiet following a slow motion gun fight is perhaps unintentionally hilarious, but it’s the sort of thing the movie needed more of. That and more of Graham McTavish, who brings his comedic chops to the fore as the guy working for a jeweller’s the group have targeted, with him trying to impress his young, attractive secretary in the process of making a big sale. By comparison the main cast are bogged down with their crime caper plotting which never seems to get off the ground. Their plan itself is clearly scripted, but lacks urgency and pizazz.
It essentially boils down to a bunch of rich kids scamming people for vast amounts of money, and getting on the wrong side of a prominent gangster, played by Thomas Kretschmann, who demands £2 million from them to make up for their indiscretion. It’s either that or a shallow grave in the woods. Without further ado the group leave the UK for Miami to target some big spenders and pay off the debt they owe.
Will Poulter’s the best on display here, although he sadly doesn’t get much to do. Of the five core cast members he’s the one with the least developed role – Sam and Frankie have their little relationship will they/won’t they thing going on, whilst Yatesey and Rafa are thinking about branching off on their own and setting up their own enterprise, which could have ramifications for them all.
Emma Rigby looks like the title of the film – plastic. Whilst many will no doubt still find her attractive, the rather horrible plastic surgery she has put herself through has ruined her previous natural appearance. In terms of acting ability there’s a little more to go on, but the new looks have ruined any credibility she may have once had. Alfie Allen and Sebastian de Souza have a good rapport as the two more junior members of the troupe, but again they’re not given much room to breathe beyond having basic defining characteristics – Allen’s Yatesy is a ladies man whilst de Souza is a generally shy and quiet computer expert. No stereotyping there, obviously.
Plastic should have been far better than it ended up. If it had decided on which tone to take – comedy or serious crime thriller – then it stands to reason that it would have been a far more entertaining film. In the end it’s tonally disjointed and the script needs a huge amount of work to make you care for the characters, as it’s difficult to care if they make it out the other side or not.
Score: 2/5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6qJU5VtIVg
