Toward the end of the first part of London Boulevard, you will wonder why it is so dull. Soon after the beginning of the second part, you will suddenly learn the reason. The first part of the film is about a criminal, Mitchel (Colin Farrell), who's trying to stick to the straight and narrow after three years in the slammer. He gets a job protecting a frail and very famous model/actress, Charlotte (Keira Knightley), and tries to rehabilitate his slutty and alcoholic sister, Briony (Anna Friel). The second part of this film is about the underworld trying to pull Mitchel back into a life of crime. The king of this section is Gant (Ray Winstone), who sees Mitchel's potential and wants to exploit it. But Mitchel doesn't want to return to the slammer, and besides, he has a great job—protecting a beautiful actress from the paparazzi. The scene that involves Gant being introduced to Mitchel is the best thing in the whole movie, and for a moment it seems that Winstone is going to save all of London Boulevard. But before our hopes are up and running, a huge mistake falls on the plot and crushes the life out of it. If you don't want to learn the specifics of this huge plot mistake, stop reading now.

This is what happens: When Gant is first introduced to Mitchel, the other men in the room, the gangster's thugs, do not hide the fact that they fear their boss—their hands shake, they breathe uneasily, nervous sweat on the brow, that sort of thing. Gant is dangerous, but we do not know why. A good screenwriter would not have done what William Monahan (the writer/director of this film) did: let us know almost immediately why Gant is so feared. The better writer would have kept it a mystery for as long as possible, would have hid the psychopath behind kind deeds, mirthful humor, avuncular banter. Sadly, Gant reveals the entire depth of his villainy the second time he is on the screen. After that, there's nothing left to transform this mediocre crime film into a thriller. SIFF Cinema at the Uptown, Wed–Thurs Nov 23–24.