Here is a solidly made high-energy London crime drama, which skirts around the Sumotherhood cliches … just about. A moped gang is making money and having toxic fun stealing smartphones and wallets out of people’s hands – then they escalate to robbing jewellery shops, with calamitous results. It’s co-written by Taz Skylar, who plays one of the robbers, and directed by George Amponsah, who in 2015 made the important documentary The Hard Stop about the Mark Duggan case.
Stephen Odubola plays Ash, a basically decent young guy with a talent for riding and maintaining bikes, but drawn into the phone-jacking business due to an absent dad; he also has to provide for his kid sister Jas (a nice performance from Rawdat Quadri) and save money for rehab treatment for his addicted mum, a character who oddly never appears on camera. He gets on well with his thieving mates Kabz (Mohammed Mansaray), Mole (Tobias Jowett), Dubz (Skylar) – whose Albanian connections fence the stolen goods – but the out-of-control Roach (Craige Middleburg), another gang member, has a terrifyingly over-aggressive attitude that shocks everyone else; and when the Albanians want a jewellery store turning over, the trouble begins.
The GoPro shots of the gang zooming crazily around London are very good; they are dynamic and kinetic, and they show – as nothing else could – the delirious, addictive nature of what they’re doing. Yet the film also shows the numb, dumb feeling of being on the receiving end: ironically, Jas gets her phone stolen and her face goes weirdly shocked and blank. Having your phone stolen feels like being existentially unplugged – and you can’t phone for help. Gassed Up uses narrative tropes and characters which feel a bit over-familiar, but it’s robustly put together and strongly acted.
• Gassed Up is released on 9 February in UK cinemas.
