VIN’S PITCH
Footie hardman shows his soulful side as
THIS old-fashioned B-movie named after a creek in Tennessee.
Middle-aged football fans could be forgiven for seeing a reference to its leading man.
While Eighties soccer hardman Vinnie Jones delivered some big and very ugly performances on the pitch, he is surprisingly soulful in this entertaining revenge thriller.
Writer-director Scott Wiper worked with him on The Condemned, and wrote the role of cockney mob enforcer Neelyn specifically for him.
He seems to have seen something in the grizzled Wimbledon star that casting directors have previously overlooked.
Wiper says that Jones’ performance reminded him of Lee Marvin.
The Big Ugly isn’t as polished as Point Break, but I can see his point.
Not many of Jones’ groomed Hollywood contemporaries could play a battered and worldweary thug like is
Neelyn. The action begins with a culture clash as geezers from a cockney gangster movie land in the steaming heat of a Southern noir.
Snappily attired London crime boss Harris (Malcolm McDowell) has flown to Tennessee to launder some of his ill-gotten gains. He is planning on investing in dodgy American oilman Preston’s (Ron Perlman) latest venture in the Appalachian mountains.
And he has brought along his loyal enforcer Neelyn, just to make sure the locals don’t step out of line.
But after a boozy party to celebrate the signing of contracts, Neelyn finds his girlfriend has disappeared. Early enquiries place her at the bar with Preston’s psycho son Junior (Brandon Sklenar), who hit the road suspiciously early that morning. Neelyn has been doing Harris’ dirty work for years, but this time it’s personal.
Preston knows his son is a wrong ’un, but in this gunridden backwater blood ties are everything.
The first fight scene makes it clear this isn’t going to be your typical action thriller. Neelyn, it turns out, is old, out of shape and painfully slow with his fists.
When he gets properly pasted by the younger man, he realises he is going to have to recruit some allies.
He finds a couple in troubled barmaid (Leven Rambin) and her boyfriend Will (Succession’s Nicholas Braun, inset).
The film is missing a stand-out action scene and you can feel the budgetary restraints in the finale.
But the performances are excellent. The ex-footballer shares plenty of scenes with McDowell and Perlman, but never feels out of place.