In his first feature since 2000's Love, Honour And Obey, writer/director Ray Burdis swaps comedy geezers for the real-life kind in this adaptation of the ex-gangster Paul Ferris’ memoirs.
A victimised child hardened by the Glaswegian underworld, Ferris (played in adulthood by Martin Compston) ends up under the wing of Arthur ‘The Godfather’ Thompson (Sleeping With The Enemy’s Patrick Bergin).
John Hannah, Denis Lawson and Rita Tushingham all memorably steal scenes but this brutal rise-to-infamy flick descends into a smug, profanitychoked endurance test.