Wow! Such a good movie.

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Boring, long, and too preachy.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

If you watch this film not expecting a musical I can understand the confused reviews. I don't find it disrespectful in the slightest, it's verbatim and represents the views and words of the people at the time. I saw London Road when it was at the National Theatre and it blew me away. This film captures everything I loved about that show. Not to everyone's taste, but undeniably creative, fresh and heaving with talent.I loved every second of it.

I was the 1000th person to rate the film, so I see it fair that I also throw up a review. Firstly, you need to know that this film is not for everyone. Absolutely not! Don't be lured in by Tom Hardy or Olivia Colman. You should instead be lured in by the unique take on film genre and a much more 'abstract' method of telling a story.This is a musical about a series of five horrible murders that took place on London Road. Every lyric, however, is also taken verbatim from an interview conducted with real people and you therefore get some very genuine-feeling phrases being turned into musical numbers.This all very weird, but the chilling melodies and rhythms as well as the intense and gritty way it is sung is frightening and works wonders. The acting is also very strong, but the intense use of color (or lack thereof) in the production and costume design is what really sells the songs and thereby the film.The story is not too captivating, and there are times when a musical motif is used a dozen times too many, but this film is definitely worth checking out if you are in the mood for watching something extremely different and bizarre.

It's not really surprising how an experimental film like this got polarized reviews... The idea, like many said, to create a documentary musical about a real-life murder is absurd, but the execution for the film was great. Many negative reviews regarding London Road mainly criticized this film because this is "not something you should sing about" like bloody hell people, WE'RE IN THE 21ST CENTURY! But once you get past that, you should be able to view London Road without clouded judgement. There really are no standout numbers or standout performances, which is what makes it great, considering it's a musical film about community (not the murder itself, really). The music is complex, but once the ensemble sing as one, it sounds beautiful. The lyrics taken from recordings in real life may be a bit annoying, but they sound quite natural with the characters singing them. The direction, production design and cinematography also surpass many films from Hollywood. Of course, it is for the viewers to decide, but you can't judge it until you've watched it.

If you've already seen this film, or rather, experimental remake of the musical, you will understand the summary line.....The film documents the events of 2006, when the town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women. The residents of the titular Road had struggled for years with frequent soliciting and kerb- crawling on their street. When a local resident was charged and then convicted of the murders, the community grappled with what it meant to be at the centre of this tragedy......Many have said that this film is a sick and twisted film, glamorising and turning murders into a musical. I say, see the film again, and you will see that no murders, no victims, or the murderer, are depicted in the film.The film isn't about murder or murdering (some of singing is murderous on the ears though), it's about being part of a community, and coming together as said community at a time of distress, stress, and fear, and how different members deal with the situation.I couldn't possibly comment on the musical, as I haven't seen it, but the cinema isn't the best medium for the story if the community, and at times it feels like a musical version of those creature comfort adverts merged with that Peter Sutcliffe musical skit Chris Morris did on Brasseye.The cast are fine. Olivia Coleman is always fantastic to watch in anything, and the original cast of the musical are okay, but they look and feel uncomfortable not performing in front of an audience. And Tom Hardy pops up as a sinister sounding taxi driver AKA a red herring.It's a shame that it's not as rewarding as it's intending to be, but that's the gamble when your making experimental cinema. It's definitely worth seeing, you may find it to be one of the best musicals ever made. But at times the film kept sending me back to Burtons Sweeney Todd.......which in my opinion is the best musical ever made.But it never glamorises murder, so the people who say this is sick and twisted are wrong, and need to look further into a film when watching it. Think outside the box......