Pusher (2012)

Too much of everything

hyped garbage

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

PUSHER is a remake of the Danish film of the same name, and is inferior in every way. It's a great B-movie plot - drug dealer loses his supplier's stash and is threatened with death by him unless he can get the money back immediately - but the film is weak. Not only are all the main characters scumbags - nobody even questions whether pushing drugs is moral - but they aren't even interesting, competent or sympathetic enough to care about. Frankly, I was rooting for the Turkish drug baron (who can't be all bad, as he makes his own baklava) to clear house. One scene late on, when the pusher visits his nice middle class mum to beg for cash has potential but ends before it can go anywhere. There's also a lack of adrenaline, as the villain's deadline is at least a week away, leading to lots of pointless scenes as the protag sits around chatting with his girlfriend (model Agyness Deyn, who is pretty but can't act) which has to be papered over with repetitive club scenes full of pumping music and flashing lights. Ultimately, nasty and dull.

PUSHER was a strong and vivid little Danish crime thriller, made by Nicolas Winding Refn back in 1996. It was the start of what has become a successful Hollywood career, and obviously at some point somebody had the grand of idea of shooting an English-language remake. Unfortunately, this remake is completely redundant for anybody who's seen the original. It's a scene-for-scene copy, one of those which I hate, and other than the different backdrops and actors everything plays out almost exactly the same. And, somewhat inevitably, it's an inferior product to the first film in every respect.The cast just don't scream authenticity here as they did in the original film. Richard Coyle is a selfish, mean-spirited protagonist and I found myself actively wishing for his demise. Bronson Webb takes the Mads Mikkelsen role from the first film and is absolutely awful, going way over the top without any attempt at restraint. The only decent performance comes from Zlatko Buric, making a welcome turn from the Danish film and playing the same role.Inevitably the sex, violence, and profanity are ramped up from the original movie, but the script feels lowbrow and director Luis Prieto is no Nicolas Winding Refn, that's for sure. His attempts at style, with the camera speeding around his protagonist while thumping music plays, just feel dated and very 1999. Not a good film at all.

Not bad . . . . really, i didn't think it was bad, but that said, certainly not necessary . . . I could imagine some viewers being put off by the rougher cinema verite feeling of the original (which I'm a big fan of as well as Pusher 2 and 3) . . . . and i can imagine some that would prefer the original compared to the slicker pumped up production values offered here . More than anything I'm left wondering why? It's not like they really tried to tell the story in a way that would in my mind justify the time and money spent given there was no real departure from the original story line. It would seem to me that if you're gonna just make the same film what you come up with should really bring more to the table than what i saw here. Are there behind the scene issues having to do with distribution or something or all said and done is this really just for people who don't wanna have to read sub titles . . . ? in any case for anyone whose seen the original i suspect you'll wonder why they bothered .

If you were ever curious about delving into the wonderful world of small time recreational narcotics dealing, then this film would have to be the 'must see' film for how not to do so successfully. A British import, this film centers around Frank played by Richard Coyle (Coupling). Frank is definitely on the bottom rung of the London cocaine distribution scene; however, he does have a small niche of clubs and patrons to peddle his products. Director Luis Prieto does an excellent job of portraying Frank's meager existence to the audience. Without doubt not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, Frank's biggest downfall has to be his naivety to the industry. Always eager to make that next big score, common sense just seems to evade our film's most optimistic entrepreneur of illegal vices.Frank has two character flaws which undeniably hinder is ability to succeed in this profession: (1) he is a habitual user of the staple that he is dealing, and (2) he has elected to surround himself with a less than stellar cast of miscreants, and an even lesser class of clientele. Both of these defects lead to bad decision choices, which evidentially lead to Frank's demise. As anyone who has ever seen Scarface can attest, the two best rules in drug trafficking are (1) trust no one, and (2) never use your product. These sentiments are never more prevalent than in this film's two key scenes in which Frank's whole existence is shattered. In his first misfortune, Frank decides to give $18,000 pounds to a stripper to go to Amsterdam to pick up a half kilo of cocaine; and his second mishap, Frank had to destroy a kilo of cocaine in order to not get busted by the police in what was possibly a 'drug sting' operation. Both incidents had serious repercussions in our would-be pusher's life.This is quite the departure of roles for Richard Coyle, who excelled as the clueless, breast-obsessed, likable Jeff character on the BBC series Coupling. As drug dealer Frank, Coyle effectively communicates his desperation and despair on-screen to the audience as seemingly nothing goes his way. Perhaps this is most significant in the film's closing sequence as a slimmer of light finally befalls our unlikely lead character. Director Prieto's final close-up shot of Frank's facial expression of dismay is simply priceless; it absolutely without a doubt summarizes this whole movie in one single frame. "WTF?" I am really not sure that I actually enjoyed this film enough to recommend seeing it. I have serious reservations recommending any film(s) which glorifies the use of illegal substances. Yep, I'm that guy. However, there are way better films of this genre which would include 'Transpotting', 'Scarface', and 'Goodfellas'. I would suggest foregoing this film, and opt for something with a more positive outlook.See more of my reviews on FB @ "The Faris Reel".