Charlie (2004)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Malcolm Needs

Writer:

Malcolm Needs (writer)

Release Date:

6 February 2004 (UK)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Torture | Breaking Toe | Electric Torture | Pliers | Scalding

Cast

Luke Goss	...	Charlie Richardson
Steven Berkoff	...	Charlie Richardson Snr
Leslie Grantham	...	Richard Waldeck
Anita Dobson	...	Charlie's Mum
Marius Weyers	...	Van Den Bergh
Nicole Sherwin	...	Jean Le Grange
Douglas McFerran	...	Richard Aubury
Langley Kirkwood	...	Eddy Richardson
Jeroen Kranenburg	...	Defence Brief
Mark Arden	...	Cyril Green
Tony Longhurst	...	Roy Hall
Chris Curran	...	Frankie Fraser
Andrew Brent	...	Jack Duval
Bruce Young	...	Lucian Harris
Antony Carrick	...	Justice Lawton

MPAA:

Rated R for strong brutal violence, pervasive language and brief drug use.

Runtime:

95 min | UK:94 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Cape Town, South Africa

Company:

Enigma Pictures

Trivia:

The silver sports car driven by Charlie (Luke Goss) is a Daimler SP250 Dart

Quotes:

Lucian Harris: Roy Hall turned the handle and the electric charge caused me to leap up out of my chair and fall to the floor. Then they stripped me, bound me, and gagged me, and applied electric shocks to various parts of my body.
Prosecution Brief: Why didn't you go to the police?
Lucian Harris: Well, the police are all on Charlie's payroll.

a good true-crime biography, but a little bit thin on details

The strengths of this movie are Luke Goss as the Charlie, and the truth, or at least believability, of the history. The film shifts back and force between Charlie's life as he tells it, and as it is portrayed by the prosecution during his trial. In one version he is respectable thief, stealing primarily from the government, and all-around nice guy. In the other he is a viscous sadist, torturing anyone who displeases him. In both versions he is charming, clever, and competent.

The movie's main weakness is the way that the story skips through small events without ever giving you the big picture. None of the other characters are developed much, and you don't see the progress of his relationships with the other gang members nor how he builds his business. Although the film is only 95 minutes long, it feels longer because it crams so many short scenes in. But because the scenes are disconnected and repetitive, it misses much of the story.

If the film was fiction, I wouldn't have enjoyed it, but as a true story it is fascinating.