Track the Man Down

This is a sort of British version of film noir. While it has many qualities of noir (such as vile bad guys, killings and a lack of sentimentality), it lacks the usual language, style and cinematography you might associate with the genre. Because of this, although the film is pretty good, it lacks the style to make it great.

The film begins with a robbery of a racetrack. During the robbery, a guard is killed and the gang takes off in a car...only to crash and then scatter. The weak link in the gang is Rick...and the police are soon looking for this loser. However, instead of staying put and playing it cool, he tries to double-cross the gang and ends up on the run. He ends up on a bus with a bunch of characters--some of which are horrible. The drunk, while entertaining, is way over- played and makes the film seem a bit light in spirit--which is odd considering its other dark qualities. There are also a couple characters that simply don't make a lot of sense. Still, it's modestly entertaining and worth your time. It's a shame, as with a slight re-write it could have been exceptional.