Villain (2020) – Phillip Barantini.

After a 10-year stretch, Frank (Craig Fairbrass) returns to an unfamiliar manor and is twitchily greeted by younger brother Sean (George Russo) whose arrant drug-meddling drags him into unwanted Ag with the vicious Garrett brothers (Robert Glenister & Tomi May). On paper all the tantalizing thug tropes are garishly present, yet the bloody, compelling, downward spiralling gangster thriller Villain belies deeper, much darker dramatic fare. George Russo is deliciously unlikeable as wrong 'un Charlie-merchant Sean, and charismatic Craig Fairbrass arguably delivers one of his finest performances as the lion-hearted luckless villain Frank. Ultimately, he should have listened to his own sage advice, “Never trust an f'n sniff-head!” Barantini's gritty, violent urban thriller has a Sean Meadows kitchen sink quality, smart, electric with nuenced performances, and a brutal underworld protagonist you can readily sympathize with. For me, the earnest, dramatic elements of Villain are no less essential than the cathartic eruptions of gore! 

  “If he's a grass, I'll kill 'im, me'self!!!!”