For his directorial debut, writer Rowan Joffe (The American, 28 Weeks Later) insists he has adapted Graham Greene's classic pre-war novel and not remade the Boulting brothers' beloved 1947 film, but comparisons to the latter spoil the otherwise impressive view. The gritty action still centres around teen hoodlum Pinkie Brown (Sam Riley) and his attempts to cover his tracks after a seafront murder, but it's been arbitrarily relocated from the 1930s to the 1960s. While this enables an appealing, Quadrophenia-like, mods and rockers backdrop - and a memorable sequence in which Pinkie leads a scooter convoy - the new Brighton Rock is not so radically different, beyond the melodramatic cranking up of the book's Catholicism. Riley is suitably morose, and the older cast - Helen Mirren, John Hurt, Phil Davis - dependable, but the real star is Andrea Riseborough as corrupted waitress Rose, whose transformation is skilfully graded. Though visually assured, many will miss the noir-ish portent of the black-and-white original's inky sea.