- "Most thoughts are memories. And memories deceive. The walk. The way he smoked a cigarette. Laughed. The dead are dead. He's gone. What's left to ever say he was here at all? Not much"
Will Graham (Clive Owen) returns to his old hometown to investigate the suicide of his little brother (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in this 2003 crime drama directed by Mike Hodges.
It also stars Malcolm McDowell, Charlotte Rampling, and Jamie Foreman.
This film contains examples of:
- Ambiguous Ending: Played for drama. The movie cuts away before we find out Will and Helen's fates.
- Anti-Hero:
- Will is of the Byronic variety.
- Mickster may be a gangster, but he's not a bad guy.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Davey. This trope was invoked as the reason for why Boad raped him.
- Best Friend: Mickster to Davey. This leads to him becoming Will's Sidekick in the pursuit of vengeance.
- Bookends: Played for drama. The movie begins and ends with the same scene of a man playing golf with a voiceover by Will lamenting on Davey's death. By the time of the ending, the voiceover could be referring to Will himself as well.
- Bring Him to Me: Boad has his men follow and jump Davey, then drag him to a warehouse where Boad is waiting.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Subverted with Will and Helen. They are former lovers, only still connected by their love for Davey. Helen tries to get Will to leave so that he doesn't fall back into the lifestyle that drove him to have a mental breakdown. In the end, Will asks Helen to run away with him, but the Ambiguous Ending hides whether or not they do.
- Dark and Troubled Past: The story begins with Will having run away from his life as a gangster following a mental breakdown. We are never shown or told what the breaking point was, only that he considers everything up to it a "life wasted." It is discussed briefly by his former gang members, who want him to return to that life, and Turner, who wants to make sure he is only back for Davey's funeral.You think you've changed, do you? You haven't changed. Not really. People like us don't change. Not deep down.
- Depraved Homosexual: Decobstructed. The coroner is very quick to tell Will that rape is not about sexual attraction, and the psychologist advises Will to look for a heterosexual assailant.
- Subverted when the actual reasoning behind Boad's targeting of Davey was revealed to be jealousy of how charming he was, and how everyone let him get away with everything.
- Despair Event Horizon: Davey's rape was this for many characters.
- When Will and Mickster learn what happened, they realize they're going to kill the man who raped him. For Will, this is particularly devastating, as he'd been trying to leave his violent past behind.
- Davey was shown to be enjoying his life prior to being raped, although he wasn't quite as happy as he seemed. After the rape, he sits in a cold bath for 12 hours in contemplation before killing himself.
- The Don: Will used to be this; Turner and Boad are currently this.
- Double Standard: Rape, Male on Male: Will invokes this trope as the reason he does not want to get the police involved.
- Dragged into Drag: A henchman is forcibly dressed in lingerie and left tied up on Turner's lawn. This inspires Turner to hire a hitman to get revenge.
- Evil Old Folks: Malcolm McDowell was in his 60's when he played Boad.
- Forced Orgasm: The psychologist theorizes that the shame from this is specifically what made Davey decide to kill himself.
- Gangster Fiction: Of the British variety. Will is a former gang leader whose reputation plays a part in every aspect of the story. The two main antagonists are leaders of rival gangs, Turner and Boad.
- Getting High on Their Own Supply: Davey isn't just selling drugs for the money.
- Heroic BSoD: Will has two. One in the coroner's office, and one in the psychologist's.
- I'll Kill You!: Will delivers this to Boad.I'm gonna kill you. I am going to kill you. Not now. Not tonight. That would be too easy. Maybe next week. Next month. You'll never know. Think about it. One day, one night, I'll be there.
- It's Personal: You don't hurt Davey.
- I See Dead People: Played with. Will hallucinates that his brother is at the terminal on the ferry. He is not aware at this time that Davey is dead, and hasn't spoken to him in several months. The vision disturbs him enough that he reaches out to make sure everything is okay. Which, of course, it isn't.
- Kick the Dog: Boad's dog is only introduced long enough for Will to shoot it.
- Kissing Under the Influence: Davey and Stella.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: Will. Mickster also qualifies, though he isn't a blood relation.
- Rape and Revenge: As soon as Will found out Davey was raped, the plot became this.
- Rape as Drama: The script was written as a deconstruction of the rape of a man. Most of the events in the story revolve around the fallout of the rape, and the motivation as well as how the victim is perceived by others due to his gender are discussed in the film.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Will is a former crime lord who performed so many violent acts that it mentally broke him. But the idea that someone would rape someone else as a form of dominance or control was shocking to him.
- Rape Leads to Insanity: Will asks Davey's acquaintances if they knew any reason Davey would kill himself. It is implied that he might not have been as happy as he seemed, especially after Will stopped calling regularly, but the coroner and psychologist make it clear that being raped (and specifically forced to orgasm) is what pushed him over the edge. This revelation also breaks Will, and sets him on his path of revenge.
- Recovered Addict: With both alcohol and violence, Will is this for the first part of the film. Following a Heroic BSoD, he falls off the wagon for both.
- Reformed Criminal: Will is this at the start of the film. It is subverted by the end.
- Retired Badass: The other gangs get nervous when Will is spotted in London, although he insists he's not getting back into the business. This changes when he finds out what happened to his brother. By the end of the film, he has achieved his goal and is wanting to become this again. We don't get to see if he succeeds.
- Starts with a Suicide: Played straight.
- Suspicious Missed Messages: Will calls Davey's flat several times after Davey's suicide, leaving several messages. When Davey doesn't answer any of the calls, Will shows up in person and receives the bad news.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Will almost has a permanent one. He gives one very pointed one during his Heroic BSoD after the coroner reveals Davey was raped, and another while getting a haircut, a symbol of his return to the gangster life.
- Torture Always Works: This is how Will finds out Boad's name and address.
- You Killed My Father: Will is hunting the man who raped, and caused the suicide of, his brother.
