frukuk

What a horrible experience, watching this was. So much nastiness and so few sympathetic characters; a run-of-the-mill and unsubtle story; an ending that is telegraphed well in advance.

Watching this nasty, brutish and very long film is a horribly depressing experience. It reminds me of the quote from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- forever."

This dispiritingly bleak film needs to be consigned to the vaults and never shown again. It has no redeeming features or qualities. Please don't waste your time on it.

I stumbled across the original film, Becky (2020), on a free streaming service in the UK and was surprised that it was so well made and entertaining. I enjoyed the original film so much that I bought this sequel on Blu-ray (from Germany, since a UK version wasn't available). But this sequel is so bland and slow paced. It's far, far worse than the original.

There's no real sense of danger or peril. Things trundle along and some people get killed. The concluding scene makes it feel like the whole purpose of this sequel was to set up a further sequel -- "Becky 3 - The Key To It All" perhaps. We might as well have gone straight to "Becky 3".

Seann William Scott is very low energy as Darryl. I don't know if that is down to poor direction or the poor script. He's so unmenacing that he has to tell a story to demonstrate how ruthless he was on one occasion in the past.

Please do watch the original if you haven't seen it, but this sequel should be given a very wide berth.

Staz Nair fails to command the screen as DCI Harry Virdee, lacking both intensity and emotional depth in this bland BBC crime drama. His portrayal is an unfortunate balance of absentmindedness and misdirected focus -- fire the focus puller -- making Virdee a standout character for all the wrong reasons.

From low-octane chases through Bradford's streets to louder, hair-pulling moments as family members grapple with each other, Nair delivers a mind-numbingly boring performance. His miniscule screen presence and emotional lack of range make Virdee not even a detective, and definitely not a man fighting battles on multiple fronts.

With a box-ticking script and sophomoric storytelling, Virdee is a do-not-watch, not least as a result of Nair's monotone and single-layered performance. If this is the start of a franchise, the BBC are doomed!

(This had to be said, in the interests of balance.)