New Town Killers (15)
- Starring: Dougray Scott, Alastair Mackenzie, James Anthony Pearson, Charles Mnene, Timothy Barrow, Leon Butler, Terry Cade, Jamie Cho
- Director: Richard Jobson
- Duration: 97 mins
- Year: 2008
Sean lives with his sister Alice, a girl whose taste for the little luxuries in life exceeds her credit limit. One morning, they are visited by a woman who demands that Alice pay her debts because her creditors are getting angry - if she doesn't pay soon she will have to repay in kind by being a drug mule. Sean berates his sister for taking out a needless loan from such dangerous people. Meanwhile, Jamie is being recruited by Alistair to play a game, success in which will mean that Jamie will be hired by Alistair and given more wealth and power than he could imagine. Finding a menial job as a washroom attendant, Sean tries to raise some cash. On his first day, though, he is framed for theft by Jamie and Alistair. Why do this to Sean, a harmless young nobody? They want him to play a game - all Sean has to do is avoid being captured by them until 9am the following morning. That's it. If he succeeds all he has to do is use a key they give him to collect enough money to save Alice from a locker at the train station. Sean refuses to play the game but is faced with prostitution as the only way of earning enough money. Refusing to pleasure a middle-aged man, Sean makes the decision to call Alistair and Jamie. The chase begins immediately.
Reviews
Alison Rowat's Review
Multi-tasking Richard Jobson returns with this on the money, ferociously paced thriller about wicked financiers.
His greedy bankers are not so much interested in making a fast buck as getting sick kicks out of tormenting Edinburgh’s proletariat. Dougray Scott and Alastair Mackenzie are the suits who engage unemployed youngster Jamie in a game of cats and mouse.
If he can stay out of their clutches for a day, he wins big money. Failure is not an option. Dougray Scott earns his wages in giving this wildly improbable tale a touch of class. As ever with Jobson, the tendency to over egg the pudding is always lurking. We get that Scott’s character is a bad guy. Giving him the surname Raskolnikov is just a tad pretentious, niet?