Just perfect...

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Harvey is sitting in a police interview room facing interrogation, and Detective Inspector West has no doubt in Harvey's part in a foiled robbery, and the attempted murder of local thug Steven Roper. Denying everything, Harvey agrees to tell his version of events, from his initial release from prison, right up to the point of his arrest....Even though the film has good intentions, and for a low budget Indie movie, it looks wonderful, it's basically just ripping off the interrogation from The Usual Suspects, and to rip off such a prolific movie with such rich narrative and characters, you have to have something special up your sleeves..........this really doesn't deliver anything new though.It's not a bad film though by any means, Treadaway is good as the main protagonist, and the superb as always Maskell is unsettling as the antagonist. But other than that, it's just another run of the mill crime drama about someone who's fed up of his life and wants to be somebody, and wouldn't you know it, resorting to crime is the only way.His gang are the usual rag tag team of Ne'er do wells, and if you want to find out what happened to Neville Longbottom when he graduated from Hogwarts, look no further than this.Spall as good as he is, is just there to listen to the story and to be the ears of the subliminal confession, until the tables are turned in the most predictable way imaginable.So it's a watchable movie, about ten minutes too long, but you'll be yearning for Keyser Soze come the end.

I gave this film a chance having read the 10 + positive reviews herein. However, I feel I wasted my time watching it. It reminded me of St Trinian's - the film about the 'mischievous school girls causing havoc''. Nil character building depth - I would go as far as to say that the building of the characters is nestled within the costuming, and the viewer is expected to believe that the characters are urban clever hipsters, with a hoodlum leader who happens to be a criminal mastermind. A rather dizzy & twirling background soundtrack seems to turn itself on every now & then, adding unnecessary noisy to the scripting. It was difficult to take the characters seriously and the plot was ridiculous. A film for teenagers huddled up for a sleep over with crunch sounding popcorn.

As someone else had mentioned this was sitting in my Netflix account unloved - a little bored I thought I should watch the first 20 minutes and see where it went.Having not read any reviews I was pleased to see Timothy Spall pop up in the first 10 minutes, encouraged I gave the film my full attention. The initial dialogue was clever, maybe a little too clever but fresh with some good lines, giving a solid back story. I must admit I grew to like the 4 lads, especially the lead who delivers a strong performance. Expecting a typical revenge story with the usual violence and mayhem the Rise takes you in a different and refreshing direction.It's well shot and the impressive director makes you really feel like you are on this gritty estate in the North of England. However he also offers hope, you want these guys to get their revenge and whatever they can take from the very believable drug kingpin.As you get more engrossed by the film the cleverer it gets with some great twists and turns, although not completely original – it all works. There is not a weak performance from the whole cast while backed up by a fantastic soundtrack (if you like your dance music). What I liked most is that the film does not go too far either; there is no violence or nudity for the sake of it. It's a great British film that should not be left too long to watch.

This film had been sat in my Netflix queue for ages and I kept putting off watching it and almost didn't watch it. I'm not really sure why, but I just had a feeling that the 4 leads would be unlikeable one dimensional chavs - I'll admit that I was being a bit presumptuous. All I can say is that I'm so glad that I was wrong.I'll admit that the first 15-20 minutes of the film did play out as I thought; the characters were annoying at first, the dialogue was a bit shaky, but once the plot kicks in the film seems to find a new gear and I found that the more I watched it, the more enjoyment I got from it.One thing I did like about this film is the depth and complexities of its characters - we have Dodd (Matthew Lewis) who seems very much grounded and fears change (not wanting to venture outside of his own town, never mind leave the country). We have Charlie (Gerard Kearns) who is an out of work welder with an alcoholic mother who I felt was more a victim of circumstance than anything else. Then we have the mastermind behind the 'revenge' plot Harvey (Treadaway) who finds himself in a difficult place when he has to try to balance his desire to get his vengeance against Roper (Neil Maskell) and his need to try and appease his old flame Nicola (Vanessa Kirby). Each character had their own identity and all the characters felt real and believable -they'll argue, they'll laugh and they ultimately show that can also work well as a team. I really felt when watching this that the 4 leads had been friends for a long time and you could also tell that they all really cared for each other (this in spite of some of the petty squabbles that they all had throughout the film).One other thing I thought about this film was how clever it was; the film starts out as a standard tale of revenge, but part of the group's revenge is to carry out a heist - I won't say anymore than that, but let's just say that this made the film both exciting and fun to watch. This is where the film really comes into its own as there are various twists and turns throughout the film that will keep you guessing right up till the end. As well as strong characterisation and a good script, The Rise also benefits from strong and believable performances. For me, Maskell gave the best performance as psychotic drug pusher Steven Roper. Maskell has a naturally menacing look and coupled with his solid acting this made him a particularly effective villain. All the other performances were fine, but Maskell was the one that stood out for me.The Rise is a really good film and I wish that I hadn't left it in my Netflix queue for so long. The characters are believable, the acting was good, the script was excellent and very clever. If you're a fan of revenge films or heist films then you'll like this film. If revenge and heist films are your 2 favourite genres, then you may just have found your perfect film.