LONDON BOULEVARD: never mind the plot points, just soak up the visuals

When superstar Elizabeth Taylor was laid to rest in an LA cemetery in March this year, Colin Farrell was one of the few outsiders invited to attend the funeral service. His presence was a surprise to many but shortly before her death Liz had praised him in an interview describing Farrell as a "brilliant, nuanced actor."

Anyone who knows Farrell from big budget stinkers like 'Alexander' and 'Miami Vice' could be forgiven for thinking the old girl had lost her marbles but having watched LONDON BOULEVARD I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Writer ('The Departed') William Monahan's directorial debut is not a great film but it's stylish and engrossing and Farrell gives an excellent account of himself as Mitchell, a notorious London gangster struggling to stay on the straight and narrow after a spell in prison but finding himself inexorably drawn back to a life of violent crime.
In one of the many plot strands that all somehow intertwine eventually, he's hired as personal security for Charlotte (Keira Knightley), a reclusive ultra-famous film star holed up in her London mansion and stalked relentlessly by foul-mouthed paparazzi. Cut off from all human contact except for her louche and very gay retainer Jordan (David Thewlis) it's not long before the actress falls for the handsome thug, but that's really the least of his problems.
Through his halfwit mate Billy (Ben Chaplin), Mitchell comes into contact with local crime boss Gant (Ray Winstone) who wants Mitchell to come work for him and isn't accustomed to taking no for an answer.
Casting Winstone as a foulmouthed and extremely menacing gangster is not what you'd call original or creative, and Gant is not a particularly original character but Winstone does play the part extremely well. He oozes violence and the threat of violence in a way that is probably more about how filmmakers imagine these kind of people to be than how they actually are. But how they actually are wouldn't generate the kind of tension and fear that Gant's lumbering presence inspires.

Mitchell appears to be the only man in London willing to stand up to him and Farrell does a great job in making that opposition credible. While the many different strands that comprise Mitchell's life may not be entirely plausible he is convincing as a character and that's down to Farrell's skill. He makes us believe in the tension created by Mitchell's desire to go straight and the continuing lure of his past life dealing in violence and crime. It's a very controlled performance devoid of explosions of emotion. Even when he does resort to violence he expends the minimum effort, treating it as a necessary function not to be used gratuitously.
Knightley is reasonably believable as a kind of modern day Garbo type actress who just wants to be alone, although the huge advertising boards featuring her face which are plastered across the British capital are less so. While the intention is presumably to demonstrate her position at the heart of pop culture there's no point to them. They're not promoting anything - not a film or a perfume or a tabloid story - and not even Lady Gaga, or J-Lo or Madonna at the height of their fame - achieved that sort of ubiquity.
Visually LONDON BOULEVARD is a treat. There's a glossy, jazzy feel to cinematographer Chris Menges' images which creates an impression of sleekness and success - a sequence where Mitchell drives an open top Rolls Royce through the streets of night-time London exemplifies this - and this sense is amplified by a soundtrack which mixes classic tracks from The Yardbirds, The Stones and The Boxtops with new material from Kasabian and a moody score by the band's songwriter Sergio Pizzorno.
There's too many British gangland genre cliches and loose ends to make LONDON BOULEVARD a classic movie but there's enough plus points to keep you absorbed and entertained until the very end.