You're Dead [DVD] [1999]

With a wacky, in-your-face attitude, the London crime thriller You're Dead... is extremely watchable and engaging. Its colourful, high-energy characters and continuous twists and turns keep the audience entertained from start to finish ... even if it's all rather derivative. The story unfolds in flashbacks as investigators sift through the carnage of a bank heist gone horribly wrong. As the sole survivor (Claire Skinner) describes the events to a police psychologist (Barbara Flynn) and a hot-headed inspector (John Benfield), we see the big plan. Eddie (Notting Hill's Rhys Ifans) wants to stage a caper for the history books, in memory of his dad (Rayner Bourton), who staged the infamous Casino Job of 1977 with the notorious thief Maitland (the always-marvellous John Hurt). So Eddie and his partner Ian (David Schneider) get Maitland and plan to rob a seriously huge London bank. And it's more than just Eddie's delusions of grandeur that cause things to go very, very wrong. The film's structure is clearly based on The Usual Suspects, with flashbacks that can't necessarily be trusted, little bits of information revealed along the way that reinterpret the action and characters who are never who they seem to be. But writer-director Andy Hurst also steals liberally from the likes of A Clockwork Orange (harsh violence, anachronistic costumes, very dark comedy) and Pulp Fiction (out-of-sequence narrative, colourful characters). Even so, it's entertaining and frequently very funny, never pausing to let you see the holes in the plot. Some of the story's many twists are clever, but others are easily predicted or utterly pointless. And the acting is a bit uneven, not always treading that fine line between comedy and thriller. Hurt and Ifans are terrific, but most of the others overplay their parts badly. Yes, it's loud and overdone ... but it's also pretty good fun, in an unhinged sort of way.

I've watched this film eleven times and have always enjoyed this from the very first moment, it's more than a little different to other films, it's clever, inventive, wild and wacky.

I can honestly say that I've never watched a film quite like this before, the closest thing I could compare this to would be Oceans eleven, but this is much darker, at times pretty brutal and has a wonderful tongue in cheek black comedy tone to it too.

A terrific British cast with John Hurt and Rhys Ifans given top billing and are both in great form.

A heist/robbery that at first may appear to have gone terribly wrong, but things are not always as they first appear.

The film does go back and forth in time constantly so be prepared for this, but it's not hard to see where in time you're viewing and it's all important to the plot and indeed the final outcome of the film.

I've always throughly enjoyed this film and will do for many years to come, just don't take it too seriously as maybe two of my fellow reviewers have.

This is quite simply one of the absolute worst films I have ever seen. The plot is ludicrous, derivative of many other vastly better films, and makes no sense. The acting and characterisation vary between mediocre and excruciating. Before you waste your money by buying this film, ask yourself why hardly anyone has ever heard of it. Could it be because it was such rubbish that it was not released in cinemas, not given previews etc, and went straight to subscription TV? Don't just save your money, save 100 minutes of your life by not watching this drivel.