Actor-producer James Clayton’s directorial debut features himself as a criminal without a name (he’s just called “The Thief”) but with a code of honour of sorts, stubble and an attractively croaky baritone voice. When he nicks a wodge of cash from a criminal gang led by Temple (Britain’s own hardman for hire, Vinnie Jones) and steals a car from one of Temple’s underlings, he finds a surprise in the trunk: Temple’s heavily pregnant wife Mia (Lina Lecompte). But the thief is a nice guy, so instead of, say, shooting his stowaway (who is trying to escape her violent husband) he brings her along with him as they try to shake the assorted hench-people Temple sends after them.
Although the gobs of fisticuffs and gunfire that punctuate the plot are so generic they might as well have been designed by a video game algorithm, and the acting is merely adequate at best, the script credited to Cooper Bibaud, Danny Mac and Clayton has a bit of snap and crackle, with the odd genuinely wry one-liner and semi-clever gag. The excessively choppy editing, however, represents a major irritant – as does the over-insistent score that punctuates and underscores the action throughout with lots of urgent drumming and horn parps.
In short, this is not very good but there are worse things you could be watching as you fall asleep on the sofa after a heavy night’s drinking, which is exactly what it feels like this was designed for.
• Death Pursuit is released on 12 September on digital platforms.
