Bull (2021) – Paul Andrew Williams.

Bull bloodily expands upon the age-old concept of an unstoppable force Bull (Neil Maskell) meeting an equally immovable object Norm ( David Hayman ) with predictably catastrophic results. Set anonymously within a saccharine English suburb, brutal enforcer Bull's desperate hopes of taking custody of his beloved son Aiden are quite demonstratively destroyed by the murderous machinations of his immoral, drug-sotted wife and equally loveless gang boss father-in-law Norm. Bull is a stark, unapologetically nihilistic, beautifully acted, thrillingly visceral gangster thriller with all the ersatz, jazz mag glamour excised, luridly exposing the sordid morass within. It is a glowing testament to the film-makers Promethean talents, having appropriated one of the more mildewed tropes of British genre cinema and robustly constructing a film of such astonishing vitality. While it is absolutely nothing more than my own projection, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if 20 years from now, Bull might still be regarded as the very quintessence of Neil Maskell's masterly gift of playing gorgeously foul-mouthed villains. In closing, while the first act is ably set up with a glacial proficiency, it was roughly midway when things really started heating up, with the final cathartic act proving to be nothing less than a religious experience!