Ben Kingsley shows off his acting talents in this "anti-Gandhi" role as a tough English gangster trying to recruit some retired crooks back for another job. Ray Winstone plays the retired crook who is the target of Kingsley's verbal and physical assaults, and Ian McShane plays Kingsley's boss who wants the job done. Amanda Redman is Winstone's wife in this high impact drama and James Fox plays a significant role as the victim of McShane's plot.

After prison, two English hoods ( Winstone and Cavan Kendall) are living the good life in Spain, completely content with their wives until Kingsley calls them up for one more job. He arrives in Spain and tries to convince Winstone to join in on an elaborate plan to steal from a carefully guarded vault in England. Winstone refuses but Kingsley doesn't give up easily and returns to the house, disrupting the retired thieves tranquil life to the point of violence. Much has been said of Kingsley's performance and it is an intense and demanding role. He deserves the Oscar nomination he has received. While Kingsley has played gangsters before, never has his role been of such "mad dog quality". A perfect example of this is when he is smoking on the plane to leave Spain and deals defiantly with the flight crew and the officials later on after he has been kicked off the flight. Another is a scene wear he is shaving and talks to himself in the mirror building himself up into a rage.

Picture-Beautiful and unusual photography are another highlight of this film, which draws the viewer into the fast moving plot line. A number of clever film techniques are used to convey messages from the script, including McShane's walk down the street away from the vault he wants to rob and the camera zooms in on the steam bath sign next to the vault, telling the audience how the crooks plan on breaking in. Quick camera shots and angles make for a memorable and clever filmmaking. The anamorphic widescreen transfer looks beautiful on DVD, from gray, cold, dull London to sunny Spain. Sound-A 5.1 Dolby digital soundtrack is standard with a two channel , Dolby surround option. Suprisingly, no other language tracks are available on the disc, which is uncommon on DVD these days. There are Spanish and English subtitle options, which you may want to use in the fast paced, heavily accented dialog of the crooks.

A bit short on extras, the film does have commentary from Kingsley and Producer Jeremy Thomas and there is a featurette and theatrical trailers on the disc. Considering its price tag, the disc should offer more.

Watch this disc for Kingsley's performance, but also for the great film director Jonathan Glazer has made. It is an entertaining and fast paced film that is rough and thoroughly enjoyable. A bit short on extras, the disc is worth a rent for Kingsley fans and it also has a clever story line and high impact camera work and editing.