Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The Movie Diorama The first few minutes were shown and I slowly sinked into my seat thinking "...this is going to be one of those films isn't it?". Yet despite the obscene use of sex, drugs and alcohol there is actually a sympathetic undertone. A detective sergeant increasingly experiences hallucinations whilst investigating the murder of a Japanese student, in doing so he is aiming for a promotion to detective inspector. An adaptation of a novel written by Irvine Welsh can only mean two things: It involves drugs and is set in Scotland. Whilst this does not have the same controversial aftershock that 'Trainspotting' made back in 96', it's still unpleasantly warped and enthusiastic in the demented characters it creates. Yes, our "protagonist" is a bully and can only be summed up as the worst detective in all of Scotland, but there is a saddening reason for his inhumane behaviour. A reason that surprisingly compelled me and made the entire third act extremely interesting and enthralling. The tonal shift from what seemed to be pointless ribaldry to then become a character study felt seamless to which I have to give credit to director Baird. James McAvoy possibly gives the best performance of his career and Eddie Marsan is always captivating. Him dancing to Darude's Sandstorm whilst being completely off his face was a beauty to behold. Would've liked to have seen more from Jamie Bell and Imogen Poots who only got to shine rarely during the runtime, but this is purely focussed on McAvoy to which he dominates the screen. The screenplay needed some finesse, just to add the needed additional characterisation and memorability that the film ultimately required. It could've been both crude and intelligently written. The narrative is rather messy during the first two acts, jumping from scene to scene like an Olympic athlete on Speed. It is jarring and will take time to adjust, however this is a brilliantly acted crime comedy that lavishes in its own vulgarity. Not many films live up to their title, but Filth does!

mistoppi It's been over a year since I saw this film, probably even longer than I think. It is one of my favourite movies and I chose to do a 21 page analysis on it for school while we could've settled for 5-10 pages. But once you watch a movie as often as I used to watch Filth, you want to take a break. And it's good to take that break, because after a while you can appreciate the little things in the film. Like this time watching this movie I was astonished by the cinematography, especially the lighting and the colours, as if I hadn't paid attention during the first time. I had, but for some reason it all felt very new to me. It's probably the amount of movies I've watched between this and the last time I watched Filth.There are many differences between the novel and the movie. Some of them are good, because you couldn't fit all that in the movie, and Irvine Welsh always takes his time before the actual twists come into the story. It's obvious Jon S. Baird had to tighten up Welsh's novel quite a bit considering Welsh's style and how many details he fits into a story. But if there's one thing that really bothers me, it's that the murdered Japanese man in the beginning was a black man in the book. It seems like a minor change but it isn't, and it will always, always bug me.Of course there's obvious difference between any book and the movie - a movie gives a face to a character. And in the novel Bruce Robertson is awful, and it's hard to feel bad for him in any way, but when he's given James McAvoy's face and talent, it's harder to not feel bad for him. You know he's horrible. There's nothing about Bruce Robertson you could actually like, but it's James McAvoy's fault some viewers might feel bad for him. That's the only reason James McAvoy shouldn't play this part. McAvoy is amazing, he's truly phenomenal as Bruce Robertson, but he's also too sympathetic.But while this film is completely awful, it's also hilarious. Just like with most of Welsh's stuff.

Joe I already read the book of this film when it first came out many years back, but only got round to the film adaption lately.For any unacquainted with author Irvine Welsh's work then he is a man with a dark imagination that seems to merge dark humour, biting satire and grim reality all together without signposting it all. He can twist as well as the best of the thriller writers and outgun any comedian.In this story, we centre round the misdeeds of a immoral policeman whose life has entered a downward spiral, and there's more to meet the eye. Practically everyone in the film is a miscreant, with the few exceptions, and we are on a journey through the lewd side of Edinburgh which isn't advertised on the biscuit tins.Anyhow, the jokes are nasty, the humour unforgiving and the characters unsympathetic.You'll either love it or be bored. Some have found this really funny, I just didn't take to it. James McAvoy in the lead is excellent as always, but it doesn't work for me.It's a fine film, but I couldn't enjoy it and I'm no prude. I love Irvine Welsh's work, but this wasn't one I loved and this adaption hasn't changed my mind.Take it or leave it is all I can say about it.

NoFleshShallBeSpared How this film didn't do better is somewhat puzzling, but then again, it's also nice to see a film to held in high regard get slagged for not living up to it's potential. But I still loved this flick despite the structural weaknesses in plot that arise from trying to re-write source material to be more palatable a la' Kick-Ass 2. Still, as someone who has first-hand experience of the sort of world this movie inhabits (mental-instability in military-institutions such as a police force) I gotta say this film nails it. James MacAvoy is great, but he also has a great cast to support him. Everyone in real-space gives Bruce Robertson the kind of reactions that are a subtle hint that they know something's going on upstairs, but understand how pointless it is to engage the beast within. The pacing works well with Bruce Robertson's descent into desolation and sells the portrayal very well. Still, the source material (of which I am not immediately familiar) seems to be somewhat lacking here, it would definitely have helped to make the ending what it needed to be (plus who doesn't want to see a hanging cop evacuate a tapeworm?) I found that the whole tone at the end to be uneven in proportion to real-space (how is he in trouble?!! He essentially solved the murder, as opposed to being the murderer like he was in the book!!!) Bruce occupies. I would've accepted him committing suicide even if he got the promotion, such is the beast that is bipolar personality disorder. It's these details that I believe ate up the pure star power here. I can't hate this film, I actually found myself in love with the heart put into this film, albeit a capricious heart the likes of Bruce Robertson. Sometimes a movie doesn't need much more, and this movie is such an example.