Metacritic reviews

Best part: Colorful Croatian-Danish actor Zlatko Buri´ reprises his role as the jovially menacing foreign heavy out to collect his dough.

If we haven't caught on from earlier films that drug pushing is a thankless persuasion, maybe this is the movie that will pound in the lesson.

The Pusher remake may not have the full flavour of the original, but it makes brutally clear how the economics of drugs make paranoia and violence a fact of life.

Pusher struggles to rise above standard drug dealer/gangster fare and succeeds, but only in part, thanks to its strong cast lead by Richard Coyle.

Nail-biting and genuinely heartbreaking moments mean it's emotionally involving, even if it isn't the cheeriest drug dealer saga in town.

Banking on exec-producer Refn's name, this glossy dealer-in-debt remake gets plenty right but lacks the hard-hitting vibe of the cult original, or a fresh take on gangster-pic London.

What's missing cast-wise is an appealing personality in the sidekick role, and Webb is no match for Mads Mikkelsen.

Pusher faithfully mimics Nicolas Winding Refn's 1996 Danish crime saga while missing its nasty, grungy spirit.

Coyle's got charisma to spare - imagine a hard-man version of Andy Serkis - but even his screen presence eventually gets smothered by the film's cartoonish version of ethnic gangsters, macho caricatures and bruised-heart-of-gold hookers. The phrase accept no substitutes has rarely seemed so applicable.

Do we really need another cautionary tale about an ambitious drug dealer dramatically falling from grace?