Dead Man Running (2009) starring 50 Cent, Tamer Hassan, Brenda Blethyn, Danny Dyer, Philip Davis, Blake Ritson, Alan Ford directed by Alex De Rakoff Movie Review

Dead Man Running (2009)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Danny Dyer and Tamer Hassan in Dead Man Running (2009)

Only Fools and Robbers

Thigo (50 Cent) the loan shark has decided that due to the economic climate he needs to call in all his debts and to make people understand he means business he decides that he will make an example out of cockney wide boy Nick (Tamer Hassan). With 24 hours to come up with the 100,000 he owes and with Nick's mother (Brenda Blethyn) being held at gun point by Johnny Sands (Philip Davis), Nick with his business partner Bing (Danny Dyer) set about generating the money out of nothing from calling in a debt of their own to an illegal fight club to fixing a dog race and selling drugs to a rave organizer.

I reckon Tamer Hassan and Danny Dyer are the Del Boy and Rodney of cockney crime comedies; they seem to crop up in so many and seem to play the same sort of characters with the same sort of relationships. And the thing is that like David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst Hassan and Dyer work well together as a double act. It is part of the appeal of "Dead Man Running" watching this double act generate 100,000 out of nothing in 24 hours, wheeling and dealing their way from one dodgy deal to another.

Brenda Blethyn in Dead Man Running (2009)

But alongside the appeal of Hassan and Dyer "Dead Man Running" is full of other famous British faces from Brenda Blethyn appearing as Nick's wheelchair bound mum who seems so sweet through to Philip Davis as the shotgun wielding Johnny Sands. For those who enjoy these sorts of cockney movies as well s British TV will get a kick out of all the cameos from familiar faces.

That though is the problem with "Dead Man Running" as whilst entertaining it is another cockney crime comedy with not only Hassan and Dyer but lots of other familiar faces and that makes it extremely similar to other movies. Unfortunately when you compare it to the likes of Guy Ritchie's and Nick Love's movies it doesn't quite match up to them.

What this all boils down to is that "Dead Man Running" is some daft fun with Tamer Hassan and Danny Dyer once again making for an amusing double act. But it is another comedy, cockney, crime movie and one which doesn't quite have the balls of others to be memorable.


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